Seoul, South Korea ? South Korea will dispatch a special envoy to North Korea early next week to discuss the nuclear crisis with the North’s leaders, the Seoul government said Friday.

Diplomats said the envoy also would invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to meet with South Korea’s president-elect, Roh Moo-hyun, after Roh takes office Feb. 25.

The announcement was the latest in a flurry of international diplomatic activity aimed at defusing a crisis that began in October when North Korea admitted it was trying to produce enriched uranium — which can be used for atomic weapons — in violation of an international agreement.

“This is a bit of a surprise, but a pleasant one,” one senior South Korean official said, referring to the prospect of talks and speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Bush administration welcomed the news but continued to push for the United Nations Security Council to consider imposing sanctions on North Korea.

The Bush administration has demanded repeatedly that North Korea dismantle its nuclear program but has refused to negotiate over the issue. It called again Friday for the subject to go before the Security Council.

In Vienna, Austria, the U.N.-sponsored International Atomic Energy Agency said it would have an emergency session Feb. 3 to consider putting the North Korean crisis before the Security Council, which could impose sanctions on the country.

Lim Dong-won, a senior aide to outgoing South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, will visit Pyongyang Monday with a representative of the incoming Roh government. The South Koreans will be allowed to fly directly to Pyongyang, without the usual stopover in China.