ID :
58550
Fri, 05/01/2009 - 12:26
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/58550
The shortlink copeid
All reference to Korea dropped in int'l document after diplomatic fight
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- A pitched diplomatic battle between South and North
Korea at the annual high-level meeting of non-aligned countries earlier this week
led to all wordings on the Korean Peninsula being expunged from the meeting's
final document, officials here said Friday.
North Korea's top diplomat Pak Ui-chun attended the Ministerial Meeting of the
Coordination Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in Havana, Cuba, on
Wednesday and Thursday. North Korea is a member of the organization of 118 states
considering themselves not formally aligned with any major power bloc. South
Korea, as a guest, dispatched a director-general level official at its foreign
ministry.
The member states decided not to mention the situation on the peninsula in this
year's document, breaking away from their tradition of calling for the two Koreas
to abide by all of their summit agreements and noting the significance of the
six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program.
"There is no article on the Korean Peninsula in this year's 113-page document," a
South Korean foreign ministry official said.
The North initially sought to leave out the wordings on the six-way talks which
it abandoned, according to the official. South Korea asked NAM member states to
keep the reference in the document, saying otherwise the mention of the
inter-Korean summit deals should be also deleted.
South Korea and its allies are trying to persuade the North back into the six-way
talks despite Pyongyang's threat of a second nuclear test and more ballistic
missile launches.
North Korea claimed earlier in the day that it received full support from fellow
non-aligned countries for its decision to quit the six-way talks, citing the
document.
"This fully reflects the present situation in which the six-party talks
disappeared due to the vicious moves of the forces hostile toward the DPRK," an
unidentified foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the country's
official news agency. DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name,
Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"The nations that participated in the Havana meeting expressed concern over the
extremely dangerous situation created on the Korean Peninsula and admitted that
there is no need to mention any longer the already defunct six-party talks and
the bedeviled inter-Korean relations," the unidentified spokesman added.
After a reconciliatory mood lasting a decade, the two Koreas' relations have been
icy since the launch of the conservative administration of President Lee
Myung-bak in the South early last year. Lee wants to implement the existing
inter-Korean summit agreements on a selective and reciprocal basis in tandem with
the North's denuclearization efforts.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- A pitched diplomatic battle between South and North
Korea at the annual high-level meeting of non-aligned countries earlier this week
led to all wordings on the Korean Peninsula being expunged from the meeting's
final document, officials here said Friday.
North Korea's top diplomat Pak Ui-chun attended the Ministerial Meeting of the
Coordination Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in Havana, Cuba, on
Wednesday and Thursday. North Korea is a member of the organization of 118 states
considering themselves not formally aligned with any major power bloc. South
Korea, as a guest, dispatched a director-general level official at its foreign
ministry.
The member states decided not to mention the situation on the peninsula in this
year's document, breaking away from their tradition of calling for the two Koreas
to abide by all of their summit agreements and noting the significance of the
six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program.
"There is no article on the Korean Peninsula in this year's 113-page document," a
South Korean foreign ministry official said.
The North initially sought to leave out the wordings on the six-way talks which
it abandoned, according to the official. South Korea asked NAM member states to
keep the reference in the document, saying otherwise the mention of the
inter-Korean summit deals should be also deleted.
South Korea and its allies are trying to persuade the North back into the six-way
talks despite Pyongyang's threat of a second nuclear test and more ballistic
missile launches.
North Korea claimed earlier in the day that it received full support from fellow
non-aligned countries for its decision to quit the six-way talks, citing the
document.
"This fully reflects the present situation in which the six-party talks
disappeared due to the vicious moves of the forces hostile toward the DPRK," an
unidentified foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the country's
official news agency. DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name,
Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"The nations that participated in the Havana meeting expressed concern over the
extremely dangerous situation created on the Korean Peninsula and admitted that
there is no need to mention any longer the already defunct six-party talks and
the bedeviled inter-Korean relations," the unidentified spokesman added.
After a reconciliatory mood lasting a decade, the two Koreas' relations have been
icy since the launch of the conservative administration of President Lee
Myung-bak in the South early last year. Lee wants to implement the existing
inter-Korean summit agreements on a selective and reciprocal basis in tandem with
the North's denuclearization efforts.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)
