VIENNA - The 151-member International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday expressed the hope that the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula will be solved through diplomatic means, with the Six-Party Talks as an effective mechanism to achieve the goal.

A resolution on the issue was passed at the ongoing 55th annual General Conference of the IAEA.

The resolution stated that the IAEA supported the role of the Six-Party Talks in solving the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsular and stressed the importance of fully implementing the joint statement signed at the fourth round of the Six-Party Talks on Sept 19, 2005.

In the joint statement, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) committed to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs as the United States affirmed that it had no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) reaffirmed its commitment in the joint statement not to receive or deploy nuclear weapons in accordance with the 1992 Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, while affirming that there exist no nuclear weapons within its territory.

The IAEA resolution welcomed efforts of all parties concerned for an early resumption of the six-party talks and called for a comprehensive, verifiable and irreversible manner in achieving the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.