Seoul, Dec 09: A US-backed proposal to end the
North Korean nuclear crisis does not specify how the communist
state should dismantle its nuclear weapons program or how
Washington would provide it with security assurances, a senior
South Korean official said today.
``These are matters of the biggest significance, and
they are matters that should be discussed and resolved when
talks resume,'' Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck said.
Last week, the United States, Japan and South Korea
worked out a statement on how to end the nuclear crisis, and
has asked china to deliver it to North Korea. If North Korea
accepts the proposal, the six nations would gather in Beijing
for a second round of talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons
program.
The proposal is aimed at persuading North Korea to
join a second round of talks, and thus ``contains only things
that all six countries agree to,'' lee said in an interview
with Seoul's a news agency radio. It was constructed ``in succinct and
implicative wording aimed at avoiding disputes'' ahead of a
new round of talks.
Lee did not divulge details of the document, which
will become the basis for discussions when the six nations
gather again.
Bureau Report
