Lasting peace regime possible only when N. Korea denuclearizes: minister

By Sam Kim

SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea must rejoin international talks on its
nuclear arms programs and allow irreversible progress in its denuclearization if
it wants a lasting peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea's
Unification Minister said Thursday.

"To establish a durable peace regime, the starting point should be the time when
North Korea returns to the six-party talks and makes progress in achieving
irreversible denuclearization," Hyun In-taek told a forum in Seoul.
In a flurry of diplomatic activities aimed at restarting the talks that include
the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan, a U.N. special envoy
has flown into Pyongyang this week, while a top North Korean nuclear envoy is
staying in Beijing.
North Korea demands that U.N. sanctions imposed on it for its nuclear and missile
testing be lifted while separate talks aimed at replacing the 1950-53 Korean War
truce with a peace treaty be launched before it returns to the talks, last held
in late 2008.
Hyun said the proposal for peace talks does not immediately bode well for
international efforts to strip North Korea of its nuclear arms programs, and
warned that a failure to bring about denuclearization in the country "will be a
tragedy."
"North Korea's proposal for a peace treaty is not a positive signal geared toward
making progress in denuclearization," he said. "If we fail to create a
breakthrough in resolving the North Korean nuclear conundrum in the near future,
the political situations on the Korean Peninsula will become extremely unstable."
Hyun reiterated the stance of his government that it will not agree to resume
cross-border tours to North Korea unless the communist neighbor makes concessions
on South Korea demands.
The sides held talks earlier this week for discussions on the tours that were
suspended in 2008 after the shooting death of a South Korean housewife at Mount
Kumgang. South Korea says North Korea must allow a joint on-site investigation
into the death and implement measures to guarantee the safety of tourists if the
sides are to make progress in the talks.
"The South's meeting with the North alone will not guarantee the resumption of
the tours" to the scenic mountain on the east coast and the historic border town
of Kaesong on the west, Hyun said.
Hyun added "nothing" is uder way between the sides concerning a possible
inter-Korean summit, calling on North Korea to open dialogue on its nuclear arms
programs with South Korea.
"Making progress on the nuclear issue through inter-Korena dialogue at this
moment will substantially contribute to the six-party efforts to move the
denuclearization process forward," he said.
"If no progress is made on denuclearization and inter-Korean relations, it would
be practically impossible for North Korea to gain support or assistance from the
international community," he said.
sam@yna.co.kr
(END)

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