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The U.S. special envoy for North Korea Joseph DeTrani is quitting to take up a job in the office of the director for national intelligence next week. As the deputy head of Washington¡¯s delegation at six-party talks on North Korea¡¯s nuclear program and Washington¡¯s man in the near-defunct Korea Energy Development Organization, DeTrani has been a point man in often informal contacts between North Korea and the U.S. since he took over as special envoy at the end of 2003. No successor has been named, but the State Department says the department¡¯s Korean Affairs James Foster will take over DeTrani¡¯s KEDO duties.
A diplomatic source in Washington said the departure of DeTrani, who originally worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), does not signify a policy shift by the U.S. in the North Korean nuclear issue. Foster will also be replaced as part of routine rotation among U.S. diplomats every two years. On Dec. 20, the National Security Council¡¯s senior director for Asian Affairs Michael Green resigned and moved to the Japan center of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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