ID :
56507
Tue, 04/21/2009 - 07:22
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/56507
The shortlink copeid
U.S. hopes two Koreas to produce fruitful outcome in rare talks
WASHINGTON, April 20 (Yonhap) -- The United States expressed hope Monday that the rare inter-Korean dialogue slated for Tuesday will help ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula that have been mounting since North Korea's recent rocket launch.
"The only thing I can say is that, as you know, for a long time we've encouraged
dialogue between North Korea and South Korea," State Department spokesman Robert
Wood said. "And we hope that the North will take advantage of this opportunity to
have a fruitful dialogue with the Republic of Korea."
North Korea has said it will inform the South of "an important thing" in the
meeting, the first inter-Korean meeting since the inauguration of conservative
President Lee Myung-bak in February last year.
Lee has abandoned his liberal predecessors' hefty aid to the impoverished
communist neighbor, citing the need for the North to take concrete measures to
scrap its nuclear weapons programs.
The meeting comes amid heightened tensions after North Korea's ouster of
international nuclear inspectors in anger over the U.N. Security Council's rebuke
of the North's rocket launch, which Pyongyang insists was part of a peaceful
program to send a satellite into space.
The U.S. and its allies see the launch as a disguised ballistic missile test.
North Korea also threatened to scrap the six-party nuclear disarmament talks,
restart its nuclear facilities -- disabled under a six-party deal, and strengthen
its nuclear arsenal.
According to some reports, North Korea will likely notify South Korea of its
intention to shut down the joint industrial complex in the North's border town of
Kaesong unless Seoul renounces its plans to fully join the multinational campaign
to crack down on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The so-called
Proliferation Security Initiative is aimed at North Korea and Iran.
Another possibility is that Pyongyang will let Seoul know its decision on what to
do with the South Korean staff at Kaesong, detained for weeks for alleged
derogatory remarks against the regime.
Wood, meanwhile, expects that a U.N. sanctions committee will meet within days to
discuss listing North Korean firms and goods to be subject to financial and trade
embargoes under the resolution 1718 adopted after North Korea's ballistic missile
and nuclear tests in 2006.
The Security Council presidential statement, adopted after North Korea's April 5
rocket launch, calls for presentation of the list by the end of this month to
effectively implement Resolution 1718, which has been neglected due to lack of
proper implementation measures.
"I understand there will be a sanctions committee meeting coming up soon -- I
think in the next day or so -- and we'll go from there," Wood said. "We expected
that there will be a few rounds of discussions before we reach agreement on a
list of goods and entities."
Wood was responding to the reports that the sanctions committee might not produce
an agreement due to differing positions.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
"The only thing I can say is that, as you know, for a long time we've encouraged
dialogue between North Korea and South Korea," State Department spokesman Robert
Wood said. "And we hope that the North will take advantage of this opportunity to
have a fruitful dialogue with the Republic of Korea."
North Korea has said it will inform the South of "an important thing" in the
meeting, the first inter-Korean meeting since the inauguration of conservative
President Lee Myung-bak in February last year.
Lee has abandoned his liberal predecessors' hefty aid to the impoverished
communist neighbor, citing the need for the North to take concrete measures to
scrap its nuclear weapons programs.
The meeting comes amid heightened tensions after North Korea's ouster of
international nuclear inspectors in anger over the U.N. Security Council's rebuke
of the North's rocket launch, which Pyongyang insists was part of a peaceful
program to send a satellite into space.
The U.S. and its allies see the launch as a disguised ballistic missile test.
North Korea also threatened to scrap the six-party nuclear disarmament talks,
restart its nuclear facilities -- disabled under a six-party deal, and strengthen
its nuclear arsenal.
According to some reports, North Korea will likely notify South Korea of its
intention to shut down the joint industrial complex in the North's border town of
Kaesong unless Seoul renounces its plans to fully join the multinational campaign
to crack down on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The so-called
Proliferation Security Initiative is aimed at North Korea and Iran.
Another possibility is that Pyongyang will let Seoul know its decision on what to
do with the South Korean staff at Kaesong, detained for weeks for alleged
derogatory remarks against the regime.
Wood, meanwhile, expects that a U.N. sanctions committee will meet within days to
discuss listing North Korean firms and goods to be subject to financial and trade
embargoes under the resolution 1718 adopted after North Korea's ballistic missile
and nuclear tests in 2006.
The Security Council presidential statement, adopted after North Korea's April 5
rocket launch, calls for presentation of the list by the end of this month to
effectively implement Resolution 1718, which has been neglected due to lack of
proper implementation measures.
"I understand there will be a sanctions committee meeting coming up soon -- I
think in the next day or so -- and we'll go from there," Wood said. "We expected
that there will be a few rounds of discussions before we reach agreement on a
list of goods and entities."
Wood was responding to the reports that the sanctions committee might not produce
an agreement due to differing positions.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
