North Korea urged to return to nuclear talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-26 16:55

The United States, Japan and South Korea urged North Korea to drop any conditions and immediately come back to multilateral talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program.

The three allies insisted there would be no incentives in advance to induce the country to return to the six-party talks, saying Pyongyang may put its own issues of concern on the table once dialogue is revived.

South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon answers a reporter's question after three-way consultations in Seoul February 26, 2005. South Korea, Japan and U.S. negotiators agreed on Saturday they can discuss all issues of concern to Pyongyang in a bid to lure North Korea back to six-party talks on its nuclear ambitions. [Reuters]

"We urge North Korea to return to the six-party talks with no further delay," South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon said after meeting with his US and Japanese counterparts.

"The significance of today's meeting is that the three countries stated that the dialogue forum is in place for North Korea to raise its own issues of concern," Song said.

The trilateral meeting also drew US ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill and Kenichiro Sasae, chief of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asia-Oceania bureau.

"Once the six-party talks resume, we are willing to have sincere discussions on those issues in which North Korea are especially interested," Song said.

South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon (C), Director-General of Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia-Oceania bureau Kenichiro Sasae (L) and U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Christopher Hill join hands during a meeting in Seoul February 26, 2005. South Korean, U.S. and Japanese negotiators met on Saturday to coordinate their stance in dealing with North Korea's nuclear ambitions, their first meeting since Pyongyang hinted it may be ready to return to negotiations. [Reuters]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said this week Pyongyang would "as ever stand for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and its position to seek a peaceful solution to the issue through dialogue remains unchanged."

He noted North Korea had never opposed the six-party talks but made every possible effort for their success, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

"We will go to the negotiating table anytime if there are mature conditions for the six-party talks thanks to the concerted efforts of the parties concerned in the future, he said, expressing the hope that the United States would show trustworthy sincerity and move," KCNA said Tuesday.

Kim Jong-Il's statement followed a four-day visit by a senior Communist Party official from China.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said in Kazakhstan on Friday that North Korea was committed to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and was prepared to resume the six-party talks.

"I believe the conditions are there for continuing the negotiations," Li said following discussion in the capital of Kazakhstan with his counterparts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, in a recent message transmitted to the North Korean leadership, stressed the need for nuclear-free status, security and peace on the Korean peninsula and called on Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks as soon as possible, Li said.

In its response North Korea "said it fully accepts that the Korean peninsula must be free of nuclear weapons and is ready to take part in the six-party talks," he said.

The Saturday meeting between the US, Japanese and South Korea chief delegates to the stalled six-nation talks was part of a flurry of diplomacy aimed at getting Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.

The six-party talks, which began in August 2003, have been in limbo since an inconclusive third round in Beijing in June last year. Pyongyang refused to attend a fourth round last September, citing US "hostility."

Close

Today's Top News     Top World News
EU commissioner: It's time to lift arms ban         China plans moves on flexible yuan in 2005         Beijing moves to expand flights with Taiwan         Amendment allows single-person firms         Crisis countermeasures drawn up         Top US general sees lasting Iraq insurgency	North Korea urged to return to nuclear talks       Powell criticises post-war troop levels       Iran quake death toll tops 602 as int'l aid arrives       Japan says policy on Taiwan unchanged       UK jails 3 for Iraq abuse, questions remain       9 peacekeepers killed in Congo, U.N. says