(Reuters/AP)
Updated: 2007-04-09 13:31

U.S. presidential candidate and governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, center, poses with his delegation members on arrival at an airport in Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, April 8, 2007. The four-day trip that started Sunday with the endorsement of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush comes days before a crucial deadline in a recent nuclear disarmament accord. [AP]

WASHINGTON - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, leading a U.S. delegation on a visit to North Korea, said he believed Pyongyang was ready to end its nuclear weapons program and improve relations with the United States, NBC Nightly News reported on Sunday.

Richardson's delegation arrived ahead of an April 14 deadline for North Korea to begin dismantling its nuclear program under an agreement in six-party talks with the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.

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"I believe for the first time they do want to enter into an agreement with the six-party countries and they want a better relationship with the United States," Richardson told NBC.

"They know that the key is dismantling their nuclear weapons."

Richardson's delegation is on a mission to oversee the return of remains of American soldiers from the Korean War but many hope to get a sense of the reclusive communist country's thinking about the nuclear issue during the visit.

The Bush administration's top Korea expert, Victor Cha of the National Security Council, is part of the U.S. delegation, signaling a willingness by the White House to engage the North Koreans if they reciprocate, NBC said.

Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, visited North Korea in the 1990s and in 2005.

Although North Korea invited Richardson alone, the White House joined the trip partly to make sure he did not deviate from official U.S. policy, NBC said.

Willing to allow UN inspections

North Korea's top nuclear negotiator told U.S. envoys Monday that his government would immediately invite U.N. nuclear inspectors into the country if US$25 million in disputed North Korean funds are released to Pyongyang.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan met with Bill Richardson and Anthony Principi, U.S. President George W. Bush's former veteran affairs secretary, who were visiting Pyongyang.

Kim "indicated that the North Korean government would invite the ... inspectors back the moment the funds are released to the North Korean government," Principi told reporters after the meeting.

Kim also told the U.S. delegation of the difficulty of shutting down its main nuclear reactor by a Saturday deadline called for in a February nuclear disarmament accord, he said.

"They can make a beginning, but whether they can completely shut down a nuclear reactor in such a short time would be very difficult," Principi said.

There has been little progress in implementing the landmark February 13 nuclear agreement in which North Korea promised to take initial steps toward dismantling its nuclear program, including closing its main nuclear reactor and providing a full list of its nuclear facilities.

North Korea has refused to move forward due to the delayed transfer of US$25 million frozen by Macau authorities after the U.S. blacklisted a bank in that Chinese administrative region in 2005 for allegedly helping Pyongyang launder money.

Last week, the State Department said 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.

Richardson said his delegation pushed Kim for a show of good faith that North Korea was ready to move forward in it obligations under the February 13 deal. He said the U.S. side asked for a meeting of the six-nations involved in nuclear disarmament talks before Saturday, when Pyongyang is supposed to shut down its nuclear reactor and let in U.N. nuclear inspectors.

"Our negotiators are ready to meet with the North Koreans immediately so that this effort to dismantle their nuclear weapons is concluded," Richardson said.

Reporters were allowed to view the first minutes of the meeting. Kim said that the visit was the first one that included both Democratic and Republican American officials since Bush took office.

"In light of current international relations and DPRK-US relations, your current visit to our country is of very great significance," Kim said through an interpreter.

As the officials met, hundreds of children and women in brightly colored traditional Korean dresses practiced dances that they will perform on Sunday, when North Koreans celebrate the 95th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country's founding president and the father of current leader Kim Jong Il.

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.

He said the timing of his visit is important and will show North Korea the United States' good intentions.

Richardson's group is expected to oversee the transfer of remains from the North Korean army to U.N. personnel.

On Wednesday, the delegation plans to drive from Pyongyang to South Korea, hopefully with the U.S. remains.