A surge in the number of business and scientific exchanges between North Korea and the U.S. has been spotted following a visit to the communist state made by U.S. presidential envoy Stephen Bosworth early last week.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) says a delegation of U.S. businesspeople led by Charles Boyd, president of Business Executives for National Security, visited Pyongyang for four days starting Monday. KCNA said the nonpartisan organization had serious discussions with North Korean economic officials to create an environment conducive to investment.

Meanwhile, U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that Peter Agre, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, led a group of U.S. scientists to North Korea from December tenth to the 14th. They reportedly agreed on wide-ranging scientific exchanges with North Korean scientists, including projects related to medicine, energy and engineering.

In particular, the delegation of U.S. scientists is said to have visited laboratories, hospitals and research centers --- including Kim Chaek University of Technology --- as part of a bilateral exchange project.

The U.S. scientists, including Agre, reported their findings to the State Department immediately upon their return to the U.S.