Key North Korean diplomat heads to Europe: report
Tokyo (AFP) - A top North Korean diplomat left Saturday for a tour of Europe in an apparent sign that Pyongyang is seeking to ease its isolation in the international arena, reports said.
Kang Sok-Ju, secretary of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party, is leading a delegation to Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and also Mongolia, the North's Korean Central News Agency reported.
Kang, 75, who was vice prime minister from 2010-2014, could also make contact with Chinese officials in Beijing on the way to or from Europe, Japan's Kyodo news agency said in a report from the North Korean capital, quoting diplomatic sources.
He is seen to have played a pivotal role in Pyongyang's relations with the rest of the world, including the United States, Japan and China since the 1990s, including negotiating a nuclear deal with Washington in 1994.
North Korea appears to have launched a diplomatic offensive as it is also planning to send Foreign Minister Ri Su-Yong to New York later in September for the United Nations General Assembly, Kyodo said.
If realised, it would be the first time in 15 years that a North Korean foreign minister has visited the United States.
Japan has lifted some unilateral sanctions against the communist state as a reward for its decision to reopen investigations into the fate of Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
Pyongyang admitted to some of the kidnap cases and returned some of the victims in 2002 but Tokyo has demanded it come clean on all the cases. The abduction issue has derailed efforts to normalise ties between the two countries, along with North Korea's nuclear and missile development.
Kang met twice with Japanese wrestler-turned-lawmaker Kanji "Antonio" Inoki who travelled to Pyongyang to stage an unusual martial arts event last weekend.
For Kang, this is his first overseas trip since becoming a secretary responsible for international affairs in the ruling party in April, Kyodo said.
Switzerland incurred Pyongyang's wrath last year for blocking a $7.6 million sale of ski lifts for a North Korean resort.
The Masik ski resort was a pet project of leader Kim Jong-Un, who was educated in Switzerland.
