Senior UN relief official set for Asia visit

A senior United Nations relief official is gearing up for a two-week, four-nation visit to the Korean Peninsula and East Asia for discussions with government authorities and UN staff, a UN spokesman announced today.

Kenzo Oshima, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, is scheduled to leave tomorrow for China. On Tuesday he is expected to travel to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for a four-day visit that will take him to Pyongyang and Kangwon Province.

Mr. Oshima will wrap up his mission with a two-day stay in the Republic of Korea, followed by two days in Japan, before returning to New York on 11 August.