U.S. special envoy for DPRK to visit East Asia

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The United States Special Representative for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)Stephen Bosworth will visit East Asia this week, the State Department said on Wednesday.

Bosworth's goal is to "explore how best to convince North Korea that it must live up to its obligations under the September 2005 Joint Statement and take irreversible steps toward complete denuclearization," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told a news briefing.

"He will reaffirm our commitment to the September 2005 Joint Statement and the six-party process. He will discuss the role of bilateral talks with North Korea within the context of the six-party process," Kelly said, noting Bosworth will visit Beijing before traveling to Seoul on Friday and Tokyo on Sunday.

The DPRK is not on Bosworth's travel agenda, according to the spokesman.

In the Sept. 19, 2005 Joint Statement, the six parties to the talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue -- the DPRK, the U.S., China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Russia -- unanimously reaffirmed the goal of verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.

However, the DPRK quit the six-party nuclear disarmament talks in April and conducted its second nuclear test in May.