S. Korea questions N. Korean demand for peace treaty

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said
Wednesday that North Korea's repeated calls for a peace treaty on the peninsula
seem aimed at buying time for nuclear weapons development.
Yu's comments at an academic forum in Seoul were leveled at Pyongyang, which has
increasingly demanded talks for a peace regime ahead of its long-awaited
bilateral dialogue with the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.
Stephen Bosworth, Obama's senior envoy on North Korea, is scheduled to fly into
Pyongyang on Dec. 8 for a meeting with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kang
Sok-ju, who is known to oversee the communist nation's diplomatic policies.
In recent days, the North's official media have carried a series of reports
declaring that the current armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War should be
replaced with a peace treaty.
"North Korea's talk of a peace pact is viewed as being intended to buy time,
distract attention, and continue nuclear weapons development in order to be
recognized as a nuclear state like Pakistan and India," the minister said.
South Korea and the U.S. alike admit to the need for establishing a peace
mechanism on the tension-ridden peninsula, though the allies have urged the North
to first eliminate its nuclear program in a "complete and verifiable way."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed in a recent media interview that if
the North does so, the U.S. "would explore some of the issues which they have
raised continually with us over the years; namely, normalization of relations, a
peace treaty instead of an armistice, economic development assistance."
South Korea's top diplomat made clear that Seoul is opposed to any discussion on
a peace treaty that involves only North Korea and the U.S., saying it requires
four-way consultations that include South Korea and China, which also took part
in the Korean War.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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