South Korea Tuesday urged all parties concerned to concentrate
on trying to realize the target of building a nuclear-weapons-free
Korean Peninsula.??
"It is not ideal for the parties concerned to distract from this
target during the new round of the six-party talks," said Song
Min-soon, head of the South Korean delegation and deputy foreign
minister, at the opening ceremony of the fourth round of the talks
on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.
Analysts noted Song might be referring to Japan's plan to put
forward the abduction issue during the talks.
Song described the talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue
as a framework to promote the realization of a nuclear-weapons-free
Korean Peninsula, saying that all the parties concerned should take
care of each other's stance and respect each other's interests
during the talks.
South Korea had proposed previously that if North Korea agreed
to give up its nuclear program, the South would be ready to
"provide 2 million kilowatt-hour of electricity annually" to the
North by building a cross inter-Korean border power line.
"This proposal could become the key to resolve the nuclear
issue," said Song.
South Korea hoped the North would give up its nuclear program,
and the other countries concerned would make definite promise to
realize normalization of bilateral relations with North Korea and
provide security guarantee to it," Song said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2005)