Radio Free Asia says U.S. special representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth could propose the establishment of a liaison office when he visits North Korea next week.

Radio Free Asia quoted Larry Niksch, a specialist in Asian affairs with the Congressional Research Service, as saying Tuesday that calls have emerged within the Obama administration for the need to set up a liaison office in the North. Niksch added that Bosworth is likely to raise the issue when he visits Pyongyang next Tuesday.

The report also quoted Niksch as saying that Washington has sought to set up a liaison office in the North since the 1990s, adding that current U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill made a similar proposal in 2007 when he was working on issues related to the North.

Niksch said that by establishing a liaison office, Washington would be able to assuage anti-U.S. sentiment as well as collect a wide expanse of information on the communist state.