Cho Tae Yong, South Korea��s chief delegate to the Six-Party Talks, is in the United States now to to discuss nuclear issues, including preconditions for resuming the Six-Party Talks. Cho, who will be in the U.S. for five days, is to meet with officials including Glyn Davies, the United States�� special representative for North Korea policy.

The visit comes after Wu Dawei, China��s pointman on Korean Peninsula affairs, visited the United States last week. At a press conference immediately following the U.S.-China meeting, the two parties expressed confidence that the Six-Party Talks would eventually reopen.

The United States and South Korea have both taken a cautious stance toward Chinese efforts at mediating a return to the negotiating table to date, repeatedly emphasizing that North Korea must first take genuine steps toward denuclearization. Nevertheless, with recent contact between North Korea and China, the United States and China, and the United States, South Korea and Japan, progress remains a possibility.

Cho is scheduled to visit China for further talks with Wu Dawei after his visit to the United States.