Will Bill Richardson be travelling to North Korea?

U.S. President Barack Obama is considering a reversal of North Korean policy by allowing New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to accept an invitation to visit Pyongyang, multiple diplomatic sources told the JoongAng Ilbo.

The sources said Han Song-ryol, deputy North Korean ambassador to the United Nations, invited Richardson to visit the communist state to discuss various diplomatic issues, including the sinking of the Cheonan.

“The North’s tactic resembles its actions in the case of the two American journalists who were released in August last year after former U.S. President Bill Clinton paid a visit to Pyongyang,” one source said. 

“The Obama administration wants to end the disputes stemming from the Cheonan sinking and is analyzing whether Richardson’s Pyongyang visit can be used as an opportunity to deliver a message to the North Korean government that the U.S. is committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the source said. 

Richardson visited Pyongyang in 2007 to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War.