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N Korea rejects S Korean call for new six-way talks
Seoul, Oct 15: North and South Korea opened cabinet-level talks in Pyongyang today with the Stalinist leadership rejecting Seoul`s call for a commitment to a new round of six-way nuclear crisis talks.
Seoul, Oct 15: North and South Korea opened cabinet-level talks in Pyongyang today with the Stalinist leadership rejecting Seoul's call for a commitment to a new round of six-way nuclear crisis talks.
South Korea delegation head, unification minister
Jeong se-Hyun, called for renewed talks and a change of heart
from North Korea.
"I come here with hope that North Korea will have talks on the nuclear problem in a more progressive way and thus create a favorable atmosphere for inter-Korean relations," Jeong was quoted as saying in South Korean media pool reports from Pyongyang.
But North Korea's head delegate Kim Ryong-Song said that efforts to resolve the crisis depended solely on the United States and urged South Korea to offer full support to the North in a show of national unity.
"It entirely depends on the us attitude whether or not to resolve the nuclear issue. I will not discuss this matter further," Kim said.
He was reaffirming a call to national unity, seen as an effort to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington, made at a dinner yesterday by Prime Minister Pak Bong-Ju.
"National unity is the only way for the entire Korea to survive and the driving force for the unification," Pak said in his dinner speech.
Jeong is insisting that the high-level inter-Korean talks, to run until Friday, offer Seoul an opportunity to convince Pyongyang to agree to a new round of six-nation nuclear crisis talks.
Bureau Report
"I come here with hope that North Korea will have talks on the nuclear problem in a more progressive way and thus create a favorable atmosphere for inter-Korean relations," Jeong was quoted as saying in South Korean media pool reports from Pyongyang.
But North Korea's head delegate Kim Ryong-Song said that efforts to resolve the crisis depended solely on the United States and urged South Korea to offer full support to the North in a show of national unity.
"It entirely depends on the us attitude whether or not to resolve the nuclear issue. I will not discuss this matter further," Kim said.
He was reaffirming a call to national unity, seen as an effort to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington, made at a dinner yesterday by Prime Minister Pak Bong-Ju.
"National unity is the only way for the entire Korea to survive and the driving force for the unification," Pak said in his dinner speech.
Jeong is insisting that the high-level inter-Korean talks, to run until Friday, offer Seoul an opportunity to convince Pyongyang to agree to a new round of six-nation nuclear crisis talks.
Bureau Report