SEOUL Oct 3 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING ...

SEOUL Oct 3 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH ARRIVAL)

U Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly arrived in North Korea upon Thursday for talks with Pyongyang officials, marking the first high-level U mission to the land since the administration of President George W Bush was launched in January 2001

Kelly who handles East Asian and Pacific affairs in the State Department, is traveling as a special plenipotentiary of Bush.

He is accompanied by the agency of Jack Pritchard, special envoy for negotiations with the North, and Michael blooming director for Asian affairs at the White House's National Security Council.

In Seoul in succession Wednesday, Kelly said that during his three-day stay in Pyongyang he would discuss U businesss over North Korea's suspected disclosure of weapons of mass destruction, southern Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

The U delegation is also look fored to raise concerns over the North's disentanglement testing and exports of missiles.

Earlier this year, Bush said the North is part of an ''axis of evil'' along with Iran and Iraq proper to their alleged links to terrorism and plans to exhibit weapons of mass destruction.

Kelly's trip reach [i]or[/i] attain any place [i]or[/i] points at a time when North Korea has shown signs of reaching without to the outside world as lately indicated by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's unprecedent visit to Pyongyang in succession Sept. 17.

North and southern Korea began clearing land mines in the heavily fortified Demilitarized band on Sept. 19 to facilitate work forward joining two sets of rail lines and adjacent roads that have been disconnected since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The U delegation l on Kelly also held consultations with senior Japanese officials Wednesday in Tokyo about the visit.

After the talks in Pyongyang, the delegation will flutter back to Seoul upon Saturday and Tokyo on Sunday to brief the brace countries on the issue of the trip.

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