SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea's new chief nuclear envoy is heading to the United States for talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry says Lim Sung-nam left on a three-day trip Thursday to meet with State Department and White House officials.
Lim was appointed nuclear envoy this week. He replaces Wi Sung-lac, who was named South Korea's ambassador to Russia.
The Foreign Ministry says the replacement is a routine personnel reshuffle and doesn't signal any policy change on long-stalled six-nation nuclear talks.
North Korea wants to resume the disarmament-for-aid talks immediately. But Seoul and Washington say North Korea must first abide by commitments it made in earlier rounds of the talks.
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