CNN
Friday, January 2, 2004 Posted: 5:13 AM EST (1013 GMT)
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- In a possible breakthrough in the North Korea nuclear standoff, the South Korean Foreign Ministry on Friday said the United States has informed the Seoul government that a U.S. delegation will travel to North Korea next week.

Asked if the delegation was going to visit the Yongbyon nuclear facility, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said: "As far as we understand, that's the purpose of their visit." The trip is said to be scheduled for January 6-January 10.

The nuclear dispute flared in October 2002, when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted having a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of international agreements.

Representatives of the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas held talks in Beijing in August over Pyongyang's nuclear program but failed to set a date for another round of talks.

In the months since, North Korea has indicated it could consider U.S. President George W. Bush's offer of written security guarantees to end tensions over its nuclear weapons development.

Pyongyang had initially dismissed as laughable Bush's written pledge from five countries not to attack, as long as North Korea scraps its nuclear weapons program.

But in a sudden about-face, North Korean officials issued a new response.

"We are ready to consider Bush's remarks on the 'written assurances of non-aggression' if they are based on the intention to co-exist with the DPRK (North Korea) and aimed to play a positive role in realizing the proposal for a package solution on the principle of simultaneous actions," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement reported by KCNA, the North Korean state news service.

North Korea previously insisted it needed a formal nonaggression treaty signed by the United States before it would back away from its nuclear program.

"This stance is prompted by the expectation that the DPRK and the U.S. can build confidence and lay a foundation of co-existence in the course of solving issues one after another on the principle of simultaneous actions," the latest statement said.

Washington has labeled North Korea part of an "axis of evil," along with prewar Iraq and Iran, and is demanding the communist state shut down its nuclear program immediately.