Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and Google chairman Eric Schmidt will head to North Korea next week on a “private humanitarian mission,” Richardson’s office said Saturday.
Richardson, a veteran troubleshooter on North Korea, will hold a press conference at the airport in Beijing on Thursday, his office said in a statement, adding that no journalists would be accompanying the delegation.
The US State Department has voiced concerns about the trip, saying it was ill-timed in the wake of Pyongyang’s widely condemned rocket launch last month.
Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, has said the trip is linked to North Korea’s arrest late last year and planned prosecution of a US citizen of Korean descent, Kenneth Bae.
Richardson, Schmidt to go to N.Korea next week
