Ambassador Christopher Hill, the chief US nuclear envoy on North Korean disarmament will undertake a four-day visit to South Korea beginning March 31, 2008. The visit is in the backdrop of souring of diplomatic relations between Seoul and Pyongyang since the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, pledged to review the rapprochement projects pushed by his two liberal predecessors. Myung-bak has stated that progress in international efforts to halt the North's nuclear program was a prerequisite for South to be involved in investments or aid projects in the North.

Meanwhile, Adm. Takashi Saito, chairman of Japan’s Joint Staff Office stated that North Korea represented a “threat to the stability of the world” because of its sharing of nuclear technology with other countries. He called for “dialogue and pressure” by the five nations confronting North Korea at nuclear disarmament talks to deal with the threat before it became a bigger problem1.

• 1. “US Nuclear Negotiator Going to S. Korea,” The New York Times, March 27, 2008, at http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-South- Korea.html?sq=nuclear&st=nyt&scp=1&pagewanted=print