In recent days, for the first time, North Korean officials paid their respects to the South Korean war dead and visited the South Korean Parliament.

Mr. Chang, a member of the South Korean Parliament, said the American official did not offer specific proposals.

Separately, the South Korean Parliament agreed to stiffen oversight of its banking sector in line with conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a $57 billion bailout.

That still requires ratification by the North Korean Parliament, a step expected next month, and then the atomic energy agency will negotiate the sites and the nature of the inspections.

In 2006, there were eight sites identified as potential test explosion sites for current (and future) tests according to a statement by the South Korean Parliament.

"The day will inevitably come when this last wound of the cold war struggle will heal," Mr. Bush said in a speech on Monday to the South Korean Parliament.

Separately, Yang Hyong-sop, vice president of the North Korean Parliament, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a trip that was scheduled to include a meeting with President Hu Jintao.

During this time, the South Korean Parliament has debated three proposals on abolishing the death penalty.

In 1960 he became Ambassador to the United States and later served as Foreign Minister and Speaker of the South Korean Parliament.

However one hundred seats were left open in the South Korean Parliament for North Koreans to vote on when they were able.