Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
April 6, 2007
Pg. 8
President Bush's top adviser on North Korea will accompany New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on a rare trip to North Korea next week, U.S. officials said Thursday. Victor Cha, who specializes in Asian affairs for the National Security Council, will fly with Richardson to Pyongyang on a mission to claim the remains of U.S. servicemembers killed during the Korean War.
More than 33,000 U.S. servicemembers died in the war from 1950 to 1953; more than 8,100 are missing.
Cha, the son of Korean immigrants, is fluent in the language. He served as a deputy negotiator at six-nation nuclear disarmament talks that resulted in North Korea agreeing in February to shut down its main nuclear reactor in exchange for energy aid.
The visit comes days before an April 14 deadline for the North to freeze the reactor and let United Nations inspectors into its facilities. Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate, said the trip will focus on the missing U.S. soldiers, not on the nuclear program.
April 6, 2007
Pg. 8
President Bush's top adviser on North Korea will accompany New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on a rare trip to North Korea next week, U.S. officials said Thursday. Victor Cha, who specializes in Asian affairs for the National Security Council, will fly with Richardson to Pyongyang on a mission to claim the remains of U.S. servicemembers killed during the Korean War.
More than 33,000 U.S. servicemembers died in the war from 1950 to 1953; more than 8,100 are missing.
Cha, the son of Korean immigrants, is fluent in the language. He served as a deputy negotiator at six-nation nuclear disarmament talks that resulted in North Korea agreeing in February to shut down its main nuclear reactor in exchange for energy aid.
The visit comes days before an April 14 deadline for the North to freeze the reactor and let United Nations inspectors into its facilities. Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate, said the trip will focus on the missing U.S. soldiers, not on the nuclear program.