THE EU/NORTH KOREA: EU foreign ministers provisionally agreed yesterday to send a high-level mission to North Korea to help end its nuclear crisis, diplomats said.
"The ministers gave [current EU president\] Greece a mandate to prepare a trip to North Korea," one diplomat said. There was no decision on when it might take place.
"The decision gives Greece plenty of flexibility about timing, and also about who goes on the trip," a second diplomat said. Greek Foreign Minister, Mr George Papandreou, and EU foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, are likely to join the trip.
The 15 foreign ministers insisted that the mission must be carefully prepared and have the full backing of EU leaders and of the North Korean leadership.
"The thought is that the EU has to try to play a positive role (in resolving the crisis) ... and get a dialogue started between the parties involved," another diplomatic source said.
"On the humanitarian side, the situation is very serious," he said, adding some ministers had said it had gone from "worse to appalling".
The EU is a relatively minor player on the Korean peninsula, but diplomats say South Korea, and to a lesser extent Japan, are keen for the 15-nation bloc to get more involved. The EU has been a contributor to a programme established in 1994 under which North Korea froze its nuclear arms ambitions in return for economic assistance and a light water reactor.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers failed to agree to roll over sanctions against Zimbabwe, amid a row sparked by a French invitation for President Robert Mugabe to visit Paris next month.
The Greek presidency referred the issue to EU ambassadors for further discussion.
The EU imposed a visa ban against the Zimbabwean leadership last February, as violence flared in the run-up to a presidential poll widely condemned as rigged.