(Yonhap)
"A possible change in the makeup of the Senate and House could affect US policy on North Korea and trade," Hong Young-pyo, the DP's floor leader, told a meeting with party members.

"The government should respond with keen interest," he added.

Hong also called for bipartisan cooperation in seeking parliamentary diplomacy after the US elections.

"We will actively consider a visit by floor leaders from five parties to Washington DC, like a similar trip made in July," he added.

Meanwhile, the DP whip sought to calm a controversy over an alleged insulting remark by a top North Korean official to chiefs of leading South Korean conglomerates on a visit to Pyongyang in September.

Ri Son-gwon, the chairman of North Korea's stage agency in charge of inter-Korean ties, allegedly rebuked chaebol chiefs who were eating cold noodles for lunch by asking how if cold noodles could glide down their throat.

The remark was an apparent expression of the North's displeasure with a lack of progress in inter-Korean economic cooperation, with the implication that business chiefs should do more to invest in the North.

"As far as I'm concerned, North Korea extended special treatment to South Korean economic chiefs," Hong told a radio program. "It was a very welcoming atmosphere." (Yonhap)

The floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party said Tuesday that potential changes in the makeup of the US legislature could affect Washington's North Korea and trade policies. The US midterm elections will take place on Tuesday with the possibility that the Democrats could regain control of the House of Representatives.