North Korea's nuclear envoy to visit US soon

North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator plans to visit the United States within days for follow-up talks on a recent disarmament deal, South Korean news reports said today.

The North's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan is expected to arrive in San Francisco on Thursday en route to New York for meetings with his US counterpart, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

If Kim's trip takes place, it would be the first US visit by North Korea’s main nuclear envoy since the international stand-off over the North’s nuclear ambitions flared in late 2002.

Kim plans to spend one night in San Francisco to deliver a lecture at Stanford University, the report said, citing multiple unidentified individuals in the US.

The North Korean diplomat may also give a lecture at New York’s Korea Society, Yonhap said. Major South Korean newspapers carried similar reports.

None of the reports said how long Kim was expected to stay in the US.

North Korea agreed at six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing days ago to shutter and disable its nuclear facilities in exchange for energy aid and political incentives.