SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- Gov. Bill Richardson's meeting with two North Korean officials provides an opportunity for him to play a role he savors as well as showcase a skill in diplomacy that could boost any possible presidential bid.

Richardson was to meet privately with the diplomats Friday atthe governor's mansion to discuss the upcoming six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The talks are set to begin Monday in Beijing.

The governor -- a former congressman, U.N. ambassador and energy secretary during the Clinton administration -- says the North Koreans requested the meeting with him.

There was a similar meeting at the mansion just after he took office in January 2003, and Richardson traveled to North Korea last October, his fifth trip to the communist-led country.

"The only governor with a foreign policy" is how Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, describes Richardson.

The Democratic governor, who was just re-elected to a second term, has remained active in foreign affairs and is considering running for president in 2008. He has said he would decide in
January.