Lee urges N. Korea to behave responsibly

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Friday
North Korea should assume greater responsibility for denuclearizing the Korean
Peninsula and take measures to improve its human rights conditions, following its
recent removal from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
Meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Washington before attending
the Group of 20 financial summit, Lee also said his government will continue to
closely cooperate with the U.N. and Group of 20 countries in fighting the global
financial crisis and climate change, according to his spokesman.
"Following the removal from the U.S. terrorism list, North Korea is supposed to
behave in a more responsible way," the president was quoted by spokesman Lee
Dong-kwan as saying.
Noting South Korea recently co-sponsored a U.N. resolution condemning North
Korea's alleged human rights abuses for the first time, the president also said
his country would "continue to closely watch the human rights situation in the
North."
Lee's remarks came after the communist North abruptly threatened earlier this
week to close the inter-Korean border and communication lines beginning next
month in retaliation for Seoul's "confrontational" policy.
In response, Ban, formerly South Korean foreign minister, said that the U.N. will
make its maximum effort to force North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons
program and improve its human rights record, according to the spokesman.
The U.N. chief also thanked Lee for his government's decision to participate in
the global crackdown on pirates operating off the coast of Somalia and formally
invited him to attend next year's U.N. general conference and summit talks, said
the spokesman.
ycm@yna.co.kr
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