N. Korea invites U.S. envoy Bosworth to visit Pyongyang: Graham+

BEIJING, Oct. 15 Kyodo -
North Korea has extended an invitation in recent weeks to U.S. special
representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth to visit Pyongyang, U.S.
evangelist Franklin Graham said Thursday after a trip to North Korea.

Graham also said in an interview with Kyodo News in Beijing that he saw North
Korean officials' willingness to return to the stalled six-party
denuclearization talks, depending on the outcome of bilateral dialogue with
Washington.
Quoting a senior North Korean official as confirming that ''the invitation has
been extended,'' Graham said, ''Six weeks ago, the invitation had not been
extended by the North Koreans to Ambassador Bosworth. But now it has. So there
is a momentum (to start bilateral talks), which is very positive.''
U.S. President Barack Obama ''has an opportunity to take advantage of this
momentum to work for peace,'' said Graham, the eldest son of veteran U.S.
evangelist Billy Graham.
''I believe that he can move this peace process forward considerably.''
Graham said that during his three-day visit to North Korea through Thursday, he
met with Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, who is Pyongyang's chief nuclear
negotiator, and discussed a potential resumption of the six-way talks on ending
North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
''A few months ago, they (North Koreans) were absolutely opposed to returning
to the six-party talks'' involving the two Koreas, the United States, China,
Japan and Russia, he said. ''But today there is a willingness to go back, but
they want to have the bilateral as well.''
In April, North Korea declared its withdrawal from the six-party talks and in
May conducted a second nuclear test. But in an apparent policy shift, North
Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Oct. 5 expressed readiness to hold multilateral
talks, including the six-party talks, if its relations with the United States
improve.
Asked whether North Korea appears to have high expectations for a visit by
Bosworth, Graham said, ''Yes they do...I think they are very positive'' about
holding talks with Washington.
Graham said he did not bring a message from the Obama administration to
Pyongyang, but said he will report his trip to North Korea to White House staff
and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Graham made his third visit to North Korea as leader of the U.S. aid group
Samaritan's Purse. He previously visited the country in 2000 and 2008. Billy
Graham met with the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung in 1992 and 1994.
During the latest trip, Graham held separate talks with Foreign Minister Pak Ui
Chun, Kim Yong Dae, a vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's
Assembly, and Ri Gun, director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's
American affairs bureau.
==Kyodo
2009-10-15 22:47:57