KEY POINTS:
Foreign Minister Winston Peters left yesterday for a rare visit to the isolated nation of North Korea.
Mr Peters' visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the first by a New Zealand minister since the country was formed after the division of the Korean peninsula in 1945.
North Korea is a one-party state ruled by the communist Korean Workers' Party.
Its founding leader, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994 and was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il, who chairs the National Defence Commission and heads the party and military hierarchy.
Mr Peters is not expected to meet the reclusive leader of the country, but will hold talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chan.
Mr Peters was also scheduled to meet North Korea's number two, Kim Young-Nam and the Ministers of Trade and Agriculture.
On top of the agenda will be North Korea's nuclear programme.
"This visit is an opportunity to reinforce with North Korea the importance of fully declaring and dismantling its nuclear programmes and to express New Zealand's strong support for the Six Party Talks process," Mr Peters said before his departure.
"It comes at a critical juncture. A team of US experts is working with North Korean scientists to disable core nuclear facilities."
Under an agreement reached by six nations - the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan - in February, North Korea pledged to abandon its nuclear ambitions in exchange for the equivalent of one million tonnes of oil and political concessions.
Mr Peters was called into a closer role on the issue after New Zealand was invited into the wider group of nations involved with the talks. North Korea has always been deeply suspicious of the United States. New Zealand is seen by many as having clean hands on the issue because of its consistent anti-nuclear policy.
Mr Peters said New Zealand, like several other countries, was ready to help North Korea's economic development once it had abandoned its plans to develop nuclear weapons.
His North Korea visit would be on the agenda when he meets senior officials in the Bush Administration in Washington on November 19.
Mr Peters was expected to meet senior State Department official Chris Hill - who has responsibility for Asia and the Pacific, as well as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - if she is in Washington. Fiji and Myanmar were also likely to be among topics discussed.
He then flies to Singapore for the Asean meeting on November 21.
HERMIT KINGDOM - FACTS AND FIGURES
* Official name - Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
* Land area - 122,762sq km.
* Population - 22.7 million (July 2005 estimate).
* Capital city - Pyongyang.
* Religion - Officially atheist, but there are state-run organisations representing Buddhism, Christianity and the syncretic Chondogyo religion.
* Official language - Korean.
* Currency - Won (North Korea won is different to that used in South Korea).
* Leader - Kim Jong Il (Chairman of National Defence Commission) holds ultimate executive power.
* Head of State - Kim Yong Nam (President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly).
* Political system - One-party rule; next election 2008.
* GDP - US$20.8 billion.
* GDP per capita - US$914.
- NZPA
