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Patience needed over N Korean nuclear issue: S Korean official
Phnom Penh, June 20: Patience is needed to resolve the eight-month standoff between Washington and Pyongyang over North Korea`s nuclear programme, a South Korean official said today, expressing `cautious optimism` on the issue.
Phnom Penh, June 20: Patience is needed to resolve the eight-month standoff between Washington and Pyongyang over North Korea's nuclear programme, a South Korean official said today, expressing "cautious optimism" on the issue.
"We cannot wait forever. But usually when you're dealing with North Korea, what we need most is patience," said the official, who was preparing to depart Phnom Penh after attending the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) here this week.
He and other officials attending the Asia-Pacific's top security mechanism said they were unable to predict when a dialogue might take place.
The ARF is the only regional security forum in which North Korea is a participant. While it resulted in little apparent progress over the lingering problem this year, participants from the countries involved remained hopeful.
The optimism persisted despite a statement issued by North Korea yesterday blasting the ARF, accusing it of interfering in its internal affairs following "despicable" lobbying by the United States.
An ARF statement released a day earlier after its one-day meeting had appealed to Pyongyang "to resume cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and to reverse its decision to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."
"We cannot wait forever. But usually when you're dealing with North Korea, what we need most is patience," said the official, who was preparing to depart Phnom Penh after attending the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) here this week.
He and other officials attending the Asia-Pacific's top security mechanism said they were unable to predict when a dialogue might take place.
The ARF is the only regional security forum in which North Korea is a participant. While it resulted in little apparent progress over the lingering problem this year, participants from the countries involved remained hopeful.
The optimism persisted despite a statement issued by North Korea yesterday blasting the ARF, accusing it of interfering in its internal affairs following "despicable" lobbying by the United States.
An ARF statement released a day earlier after its one-day meeting had appealed to Pyongyang "to resume cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and to reverse its decision to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."
The South Korean official appeared to treat the statement as mere rhetoric.
"Taking into consideration what has happened in the last few days ... We're very cautiously optimistic. But we don't have some kind of evidence North Korea will come to the dialogue table," he said.
Bureau Report