A delegation of the US Congress Tuesday arrived in Pyongyang in a presumed bid to break the current deadlock between the US and North Korea over the nuclear issue and to further understand North Korea's standpoint on it.

 

The delegation is headed by James Leach, chairman of the Subcommittee on Asian and the Pacific Affairs of the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives.

 

North Korea announced on Monday that it would postpone its participation in the second phase of the fourth-round six-party talks to mid-September because the US recently started large-scale military exercises dubbed "Ulji Focus Lens-05" with South Korea and appointed a presidential envoy to oversee North Korea's human rights issues.

 

Leach, a senior Republican, was recently quoted by US reports as saying that "nothing is more stupid than attacking North Korea." He also urged the Bush administration to widen contact channels with North Korea, not just limit itself to the six-party talks.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2005)