US North Korea envoys to visit Beijing

The US Department of State announced on Monday afternoon that Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen W.Bosworth and Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks Sung Kim will travel to Beijing tomorrow (Feb 23) for consultations with partners in the Six-Party process.

And as part of an ongoing consultation Secretary Clinton will host Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan at the State Department on Friday, the announcement said.

In Beijing, the US officials will meet their counterparts in China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

"In a couple of cases, there have been meetings recently with North Korean officials, and we're going to be consulting to see where we think we stand in the process," said Philip J. Crowley, Spokesman of the US Department of State and Assistant Secretary at Monday's press briefing.

"We are looking for a signal from North Korea, and we're still waiting for that signal." But he ruled out the possibility that the US officials will go to Pyongyang.

"They will be going to Beijing. I do not expect them to go to Pyongyang," he said.