S. Korean nuke envoy ends trip to N. Korea

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with envoy's comments; CHANGES dateline, headline)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL/ BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's deputy chief nuclear envoy
said Monday that North Korea maintains its hard-line position on denuclearization
as he returned from a rare trip to Pyongyang.
Hwang Joon-kook, head of the foreign ministry's North Korean nuclear issue
bureau, added that he also visited the North's main nuclear site in Yongbyon for
discussions on discarding unused fuel rods stored at the facilities that are the
hotbed of the secretive nation's nuclear ambitions.
"I visited the Yongbyon nuclear facilities, including the storage (area) for
unused fuel rods and was briefed by a related North Korean official," he told
reporters upon arriving at the Beijing international airport on his way back to
Seoul.
"I had consultations with the North Korean side on the basis of the results of
the visit to Yongbyon," he added. "As I talked with the official at the North
Korean foreign ministry, I felt that the North's position is not different from
its existing one."
Hwang led a team of South Korean officials and civilian nuclear experts on a
fact-finding mission to decide whether to buy the fresh rods. His team arrived in
Pyongyang last Thursday and is to return to Seoul on Tuesday.
Hwang said his discussions there were not affected by Pyongyang's latest
acrimonious statements. Over the weekend, the North's military declared an
"all-out confrontational posture" against South Korea, citing the Lee Myung-bak
administration's "hostile" policy.
Separately, its foreign ministry said its denuclearization is unrelated to its
pursuit of normalizing ties with Washington, in an apparent message to the
incoming Obama administration.
"Such a mood did not affect my talks (in North Korea)," he said, refusing to give
further details.
"It is hard to answer for now," he said. "There will be a chance to disclose the
outcome of my trip after reporting to senior officials."
Removing the fuel rods is one of the few remaining steps that Pyongyang has to
take to disable the Yongbyon complex under a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal
with South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia, and Japan.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)