Pyongyang's proposal to send Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan to Obama's Jan 20 inauguration was rejected as the two countries do not have diplomatic relations. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
SEOUL - NORTH Korea wants to send its chief nuclear envoy to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, news reports said.
Pyongyang's proposal to send Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan to Obama's Jan 20 inauguration was made last month through its mission to the United Nations, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Monday, citing an unidentified South Korean government official.
Washington rejected the idea, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.
Asked to confirm the reports, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he has heard 'such talk,' and added, 'I understand things are not going that way.'
Aaron Tarver, a spokesman at the US Embassy in Seoul, said he had no information about any inauguration requests from Pyongyang.
The US State Department last week informed all foreign embassies in Washington that, in keeping with past practice, their ambassadors and spouses can come to the event to represent their countries. Officials from their capitals, however, must stay home.
'These invitations are only for the chiefs of diplomatic missions and their spouses and are not transferable,' US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a diplomatic note sent to the embassies on Jan 6.
An earlier message sent by Dr Rice to embassies on Nov 24 said the exclusion of foreign leaders and top government officials is customary for US presidential inaugurations. 'As in the past, foreign delegations will not be invited to Washington for this occasion,' it said.
The US and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations.
The North's move, if confirmed, would be another sign the regime is eager to forge good relations with the next U.S. administration.
Pyongyang also refrained from its routine criticism of the US in its New Year's Day statement in what analysts said was an overture to the incoming US leader.
For years, Washington and Pyongyang have been locked in a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
Negotiations aimed at resolving the dispute have been stalled because of the North's refusal to accept a protocol that would allow verification of its nuclear programs' list. The talks involve China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States. -- AP
