ID :
26806
Mon, 10/27/2008 - 10:15
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/26806
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea seeks EU's role in denuclearizing N. Korea
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's deputy nuclear envoy plans to visit Brussels this week for an unannounced meeting with officials at the European Union (EU), apparently aimed at discussing its possible role in the denuclearization of North Korea, an informed source said Monday.
Hwang Joon-kook, head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North Korean nuclear
issue bureau, left for the Belgian capital on Sunday on a weeklong trip that will
also take him to Amsterdam and Vienna.
"He is scheduled to meet with EU officials in Brussels and IAEA officials in
Vienna," the source said. "In the Netherlands, he will attend a seminar on the
North Korean nuclear issue."
There are no European members in the six-way nuclear talks also involving the
U.S., China, Russia, and Japan. But the EU, the world's largest economic bloc,
has sought to play a role in the often-troubled efforts to denuclearize the North
and break its isolation.
The EU, together with South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, took part in a
now-defunct multi-billion-dollar project to build two nuclear power plants in the
North under a 1994 agreement on the North's freezing of its nuclear activities.
The EU is said to be willing to contribute to the six-party talks as well.
News reports said that it may provide North Korea with fuel oil on behalf of
Japan, which has balked at delivering aid to the communist nation despite a deal
signed last year.
The North was promised one million tons of heavy oil or equivalent aid in return
for disabling of its main plutonium-producing facilities. Japan, however, calls
for the North to first make sincere efforts to fully account for the fate of the
Japanese civilians it kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry official confirmed Hwang's trip but refused to
link it with media speculation on the possible energy aid.
"Director-general Hwang will brief EU officials on the recent development in the
six-way talks and have general discussions on the North Korean nuclear issue, as
the EU is expected to play a role in the process down the road -- for example in
the third phase," the official said. He asked not to be named, as his ministry
has not announced Hwang's trip.
He was referring to the last of the three-tier denuclearization process in which
North Korea is obliged to dismantle its nuclear program.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's deputy nuclear envoy plans to visit Brussels this week for an unannounced meeting with officials at the European Union (EU), apparently aimed at discussing its possible role in the denuclearization of North Korea, an informed source said Monday.
Hwang Joon-kook, head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North Korean nuclear
issue bureau, left for the Belgian capital on Sunday on a weeklong trip that will
also take him to Amsterdam and Vienna.
"He is scheduled to meet with EU officials in Brussels and IAEA officials in
Vienna," the source said. "In the Netherlands, he will attend a seminar on the
North Korean nuclear issue."
There are no European members in the six-way nuclear talks also involving the
U.S., China, Russia, and Japan. But the EU, the world's largest economic bloc,
has sought to play a role in the often-troubled efforts to denuclearize the North
and break its isolation.
The EU, together with South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, took part in a
now-defunct multi-billion-dollar project to build two nuclear power plants in the
North under a 1994 agreement on the North's freezing of its nuclear activities.
The EU is said to be willing to contribute to the six-party talks as well.
News reports said that it may provide North Korea with fuel oil on behalf of
Japan, which has balked at delivering aid to the communist nation despite a deal
signed last year.
The North was promised one million tons of heavy oil or equivalent aid in return
for disabling of its main plutonium-producing facilities. Japan, however, calls
for the North to first make sincere efforts to fully account for the fate of the
Japanese civilians it kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry official confirmed Hwang's trip but refused to
link it with media speculation on the possible energy aid.
"Director-general Hwang will brief EU officials on the recent development in the
six-way talks and have general discussions on the North Korean nuclear issue, as
the EU is expected to play a role in the process down the road -- for example in
the third phase," the official said. He asked not to be named, as his ministry
has not announced Hwang's trip.
He was referring to the last of the three-tier denuclearization process in which
North Korea is obliged to dismantle its nuclear program.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)
