A key question is whether Stephen Bosworth can extract a firm commitment from Pyongyang to rejoin nuclear disarmament talks — whether the DPRK is serious, this time, about peace on the peninsula, AP reports

Bosworth was scheduled to fly from a US military base near Seoul to the DPRK capital Tuesday to see if the Northeast Asian country will return to the international disarmament talks that it abandoned earlier this year.

Neither side has said which DPRK officials Bosworth will meet in Pyongyang during his three-day trip, though he is widely expected to sit down with Kang Sok Ju, the first vice foreign minister, who is considered the chief foreign policy strategist for leader Kim Jong Il.

"The main question is whether Bosworth will meet with Chairman Kim Jong Il," said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul's Dongguk University. "Such a meeting would demonstrate that both the US and North Korea intend to resolve the nuclear issue."

AP