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North, South Korea Agree Talks Should Set Framework for Nuclear- Free Peninsula

Posted on: Sunday, 24 July 2005, 06:00 CDT

Excerpt from report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Beijing, 24 July: The delegations of North Korea and South Korea met in Beijing on Sunday morning [24 July] ahead of the six-party talks on the North's nuclear ambitions set to begin here Tuesday, and shared the view that a framework is needed for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"We shared the view that (participants) in the talks should produce substantial progress and come up with a framework for the realization of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula," South Korean delegation leader Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon was quoted as telling reporters after the meeting with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan.

China's official Xinhua News Agency quoted a South Korean diplomat as saying the meeting started at 11 a.m. and lasted for about 100 minutes. The South Korean delegation arrived in Beijing on Saturday, while the North Korean delegation came Friday.

Also Sunday, North Korea's state-run media called on the United States to approach the talks "sincerely" by taking into account "the historical background against which the nuclear issue surfaced on the Korean Peninsula and the objective reality which compelled it (the North) to have access to nukes". [passage omitted]

The American and Japanese delegations are set to arrive Sunday, while the Russian delegation is expected to do so Monday. A reception hosted by China is scheduled to be held Monday evening, prior to the formal start of the talks Tuesday morning. No closing date has been set for the talks.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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