South Korea has reportedly proposed that Seoul and Washington closely consult each other throughout the implementation of a sensitive law aimed at improving North Korea's human rights conditions.
A Foreign Ministry official said Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon made the proposal during his talks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and that Powell agreed to the proposal in Chile last Friday on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
The U.S. legislation, known as the North Korea Human Rights Act, seeks ostensibly to provide assistance to North Koreans asylum-seekers. But Pyongyang has pilloried the law, calling it a product of Washington's "hostile" North Korea policy.