ID :
105489
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 10:07
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/105489
The shortlink copeid
N. Korean leader reiterates pledge to denuclearize Korean Peninsula: report
By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has told a senior Chinese envoy that Pyongyang will continue to seek the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," a report said Tuesday, though it was unclear whether Kim indicated any willingness to rejoin stalled international nuclear talks.
China's Xinhua news agency also quoted Kim as saying during his meeting with Wang
Jiarui, head of the international department of the Communist Party of China,
that the "sincerity of relevant parties to resume the six-party talks is very
important."
But it stopped short of saying whether the North's leader said the country will
rejoin the stalled six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs, which
involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. The talks
have been deadlocked for more than a year.
Kim reiterated "the country's persistent stance to realize the denuclearization
of the Korean Peninsula," Xinhua said of the meeting between Kim and Wang.
Earlier in the day, Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency carried a report on
Kim's meeting with Wang, saying that Wang conveyed to Kim "a verbal personal
message" from Chinese President Hu Jintao. The KCNA did not elaborate on its
content, only saying that Kim "expressed thanks for this and asked Wang Jiarui to
convey his regards to Hu Jintao."
Wang's trip to Pyongyang comes amid a flurry of diplomacy to help revive the
multilateral nuclear talks, which have been on and off since they were launched
in 2003.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy, Lynn Pascoe, will fly to
Pyongyang Tuesday for a four-day stay to discuss the North's nuclear ambitions,
as well as providing humanitarian aid to the impoverished North and other issues.
It is to be the first bilateral contact between North Korea and the U.N. since
2004, when Maurice Strong, then Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for
North Korea, visited Pyongyang.
Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific
affairs, just concluded a trip to Seoul and Tokyo to reconfirm that the three
countries will not discuss easing U.N. sanctions on the North or a peace treaty
to replace the Korean War armistice unless North Korea first returns to the
six-party talks.
North Korea has made the removal of sanctions and the signing of a treaty
preconditions to its return to negotiations.
Amid conflicting messages from North Korea, U.S. State Department spokesman
Philip Crowley Friday expressed appreciation for China's effort to revive the
nuclear talks.
"The Chinese senior officials have regular discussions with North Korea," Crowley
said. "We value that leadership by China."
North Korea recently fired artillery rounds along its disputed maritime border
with South Korea while concurrently proposing talks with South Korea for joint
projects. They include an industrial park in the North's border town of Kaesong
and the revival of cross-border tours, which have been suspended for more than a
year and a half after the tragic shooting death of a South Korean tourist near a
Northern seaside resort.
In another conciliatory gesture, North Korea on Saturday freed Robert Park, 28,
an American activist who illegally entered the country on Christmas Day to draw
international attention to the North's human rights conditions, citing his
"sincere repentance of his wrongdoings."
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak recently said that he may be able to meet
with North Korean leader Kim this year, giving rise to speculation that talks are
under way for a breakthrough in inter-Korean ties due to the economic plight the
North has been suffering under international sanctions.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday said the Obama administration will
continue engaging North Korea, which she described as "a nuclear-armed country,"
calling for the North's return to the denuclearization talks.
"Engagement has brought us a lot in the last year," Clinton told CNN. "When we
said that we were willing to work with North Korea if they were serious about
returning to the six-party talks and about denuclearizing in an irreversible way,
they basically did not respond in the first instance."
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has told a senior Chinese envoy that Pyongyang will continue to seek the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," a report said Tuesday, though it was unclear whether Kim indicated any willingness to rejoin stalled international nuclear talks.
China's Xinhua news agency also quoted Kim as saying during his meeting with Wang
Jiarui, head of the international department of the Communist Party of China,
that the "sincerity of relevant parties to resume the six-party talks is very
important."
But it stopped short of saying whether the North's leader said the country will
rejoin the stalled six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs, which
involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. The talks
have been deadlocked for more than a year.
Kim reiterated "the country's persistent stance to realize the denuclearization
of the Korean Peninsula," Xinhua said of the meeting between Kim and Wang.
Earlier in the day, Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency carried a report on
Kim's meeting with Wang, saying that Wang conveyed to Kim "a verbal personal
message" from Chinese President Hu Jintao. The KCNA did not elaborate on its
content, only saying that Kim "expressed thanks for this and asked Wang Jiarui to
convey his regards to Hu Jintao."
Wang's trip to Pyongyang comes amid a flurry of diplomacy to help revive the
multilateral nuclear talks, which have been on and off since they were launched
in 2003.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy, Lynn Pascoe, will fly to
Pyongyang Tuesday for a four-day stay to discuss the North's nuclear ambitions,
as well as providing humanitarian aid to the impoverished North and other issues.
It is to be the first bilateral contact between North Korea and the U.N. since
2004, when Maurice Strong, then Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for
North Korea, visited Pyongyang.
Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific
affairs, just concluded a trip to Seoul and Tokyo to reconfirm that the three
countries will not discuss easing U.N. sanctions on the North or a peace treaty
to replace the Korean War armistice unless North Korea first returns to the
six-party talks.
North Korea has made the removal of sanctions and the signing of a treaty
preconditions to its return to negotiations.
Amid conflicting messages from North Korea, U.S. State Department spokesman
Philip Crowley Friday expressed appreciation for China's effort to revive the
nuclear talks.
"The Chinese senior officials have regular discussions with North Korea," Crowley
said. "We value that leadership by China."
North Korea recently fired artillery rounds along its disputed maritime border
with South Korea while concurrently proposing talks with South Korea for joint
projects. They include an industrial park in the North's border town of Kaesong
and the revival of cross-border tours, which have been suspended for more than a
year and a half after the tragic shooting death of a South Korean tourist near a
Northern seaside resort.
In another conciliatory gesture, North Korea on Saturday freed Robert Park, 28,
an American activist who illegally entered the country on Christmas Day to draw
international attention to the North's human rights conditions, citing his
"sincere repentance of his wrongdoings."
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak recently said that he may be able to meet
with North Korean leader Kim this year, giving rise to speculation that talks are
under way for a breakthrough in inter-Korean ties due to the economic plight the
North has been suffering under international sanctions.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday said the Obama administration will
continue engaging North Korea, which she described as "a nuclear-armed country,"
calling for the North's return to the denuclearization talks.
"Engagement has brought us a lot in the last year," Clinton told CNN. "When we
said that we were willing to work with North Korea if they were serious about
returning to the six-party talks and about denuclearizing in an irreversible way,
they basically did not respond in the first instance."
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
