US senator visits North Korea for nuclear arms check

US Senator Carl Levin flew to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, on Thursday for a four-day trip to investigate North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programme, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

It said Levin flew to Pyongyang on a military plane from Yokoda airbase in Japan, accompanied by several US officials.

During his trip, Levin is due to visit North Korea's nuclear facilities at Yongbyon.

Levin will visit Seoul on Sunday to brief South Korean President-elect Kim Dae-jung, Foreign Minister Yoo Chong-ha and other officials about his trip to the North, Yonhap added.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.