Lee Nak-yon, the spokesman for President-elect Roh Moo-hyun said Monday that Roh was selecting a person and date for a high level envoy exchange with the US agreed to in a phone call with US President Bush last week.

Lee also said the North Korean nuclear problem should be resolved peacefully and he thought that most Koreans did not want the situation to become more serious, nor did they want a security crisis.

Earlier President-elect Roh received a phone call from Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to congratulate him on his victory. The two agreed to work together for the peaceful resolution of the current North Korean problem and further cooperate for peace and stability in East Asia. The Japanese Prime Minister also expressed his wish to meet the president-elect in the near future and the 16th Korean president said that he had the same wish.

Roh also had a string of interviews with the Japanese, Chinese, and Russian Ambassadors and foreign policy experts. He said he would prepare to deal with the North Korean nuclear problem by listening to the opinions of experts. (Kim Min-chul, mckim@chosun.com )