(Kyodo) _ Joseph DeTrani, U.S. special envoy at six-party talks on North Korea"s nuclear ambitions, will leave the post on Jan. 3, a State Department official said Wednesday.

DeTrani, who is originally from the Central Intelligence Agency, will move to the office of John Negroponte, the first director of national intelligence, and assume a senior post there, the official said.

"Ambassador DeTrani played a key role in continuing efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula through the six-party talks," the official said.

The U.S. government "will continue to benefit from Mr. DeTrani"s experience and insights in this region" in his new post, the official said.

Jim Foster, director of the State Department"s Office of Korean affairs, will take over DeTrani"s duties for the time being.

DeTrani has served as deputy delegation chief to the six-party talks as well as the U.S. representative to the New York-based Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization. He has also continued unofficial contacts with North Korean officials through the North"s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York.
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No administration officials were available to comment on why DeTrani is leaving. But some sources close to the matter attributed it partly to a conflict within the administration of President George W. Bush.

Widely known for his moderate diplomatic approach, DeTrani has played the central role in the six-party talks and working-group sessions of deputy delegation chiefs.

His departure is expected to be a blow to the chief U.S. delegate, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, who has been working to spur the six parties to implement a joint statement they adopted in September in the fourth round.

After the short fifth round held in early November in Beijing, prospects are dimming for resuming the talks due to disputes between Pyongyang and Washington over recent U.S. financial sanctions on North Korea-related entities.

Pyongyang has said it will not return to the negotiating table unless Washington removes the sanctions on a Macao-based bank suspected of laundering money for the North and also against North Korean entities allegedly proliferating weapons of mass destruction.

In the joint statement, North Korea agreed to abandon all its nuclear weapons and programs, rejoin the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and accept safeguard inspections under the International Atomic Energy Agency in exchange for energy aid and other benefits.

DeTrani joined the State Department in November 2003 to take the place of Charles Pritchard, who quit the special envoy post and left the Bush administration due to a disagreement with hard-liners. He was promoted to the rank of ambassador in March.

Before joining the department, he served as director of East Asian operations at the CIA.