Richardson on Rare Visit to North Korea

Democratic presidential hopeful New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson boards a plane bound for North Korea at the Santa Fe Municipal Airport in Santa Fe, N.M., Saturday, April 7, 2007. Richardson left Saturday for North Korea to claim the remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War. (AP Photo/John A. Bowersmith) (John A. Bowersmith - AP)

PYONGYANG, North Korea -- Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor who has undertaken diplomatic missions to countries at odds with the United States, began a rare visit to isolated North Korea Sunday to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War.

The four-day trip, which has been endorsed by the Bush administration, comes days before a crucial deadline in a recent nuclear disarmament accord. Earlier, Richardson, a Democratic candidate for president, had said he had no intention of negotiating nuclear matters.

On Monday, Richardson met with North Korea's top nuclear negotiator, who said his government would immediately invite U.N. nuclear inspectors into the country if $25 million in disputed North Korean funds are released to Pyongyang.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan also told the delegation of the difficulty in shutting down the regime's main nuclear reactor by a Saturday deadline called for in the February nuclear disarmament accord.

"They can make a beginning, but whether they can completely shut down a nuclear reactor in such a short time would be very difficult," said Anthony Principi, President Bush's former veteran affairs secretary and a member of Richardson's delegation.

North Korea made a breakthrough agreement on nuclear disarmament on Feb. 13, raising hopes for an end to a long-running standoff with the United States and regional powers. The agreement set an April 14 deadline for the North to shut down its main nuclear reactor.

Despite the breakthrough nuclear agreement, there has been little progress since. The impoverished North has refused further negotiations due to the delayed transfer of the $25 million in the regime's money frozen by Macau authorities after the U.S. blacklisted a bank in that Chinese administrative region in 2005 for allegedly helping Pyongyang launder money.

Some worry that delay could hold up implementation of the disarmament agreement.

The State Department said Friday that a hitch stalling the release of the funds had been resolved, potentially clearing the way for the disbursement of the money. No details were released on when or how the money would be transferred.

North Korea's defense minister praised the country's nuclear program on Sunday at a meeting of top officials and said the North had achieved status as a nuclear power.

North Korea "has legitimately ranked itself among the nuclear weapons states," Vice Marshal Kim Il Chol said, according to a report from the official Korean Central News Agency.

Richardson has regularly made diplomatic trips, often on his own initiative, to a number of global hot spots. Though visits to North Korea by senior U.S. officials are rare, this was Richardson's sixth.