Koreas Agree to Seek Peaceful End to Nuclear Crisis

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 24, 2003

Koreas Agree to Seek Peaceful End to Nuclear Crisis

The Ninth Inter-Korean Ministerial Meeting ended early Friday local time in Seoul with a joint statement. The two sides fully exchanged their views on the nuclear issue and agreed to cooperate actively in solving the issue peacefully, according to the statement.

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The four-day Ninth Inter-Korean Ministerial Meeting concluded early Friday morning in Seoul with a four-point joint statement.

The South Korean delegation, led by Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, and the delegation of the Democratic People's Republic ofKorea (DPRK), headed by Cabinet Councilor Kim Ryong Song, held thesecond plenary meeting to announce the statement after long time delay.

After the two delegations held the first plenary session on Wednesday morning, the negotiators wrangled over the wording of the joint statement, which was scheduled to be released Wednesday.

The two sides fully exchanged their views on the nuclear issue and agreed to cooperate actively in solving the issue peacefully, according to the statement.

The DPRK's announcement earlier this month of withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) became the most important topic of the first inter-Korean high level meeting in 2003.

South Korean delegates once sought a commitment to concrete measures from the DPRK on the nuclear issue, while Pyongyang wanted to add some words to address the nuclear issue within "a framework of inter-national solidarity."

The two parties of the Korean Peninsula gave a positive assessment to the progress made in bilateral ties since the South-North Joint Declaration was signed by South Korean incumbent President Kim Dae-jung and DPRK top leader Kim Jong IL on June 15,2000, in Pyongyang.

Then the two sides vowed to continue to abide by and fulfill the declaration in the future, according to the statement.

South Korea and DPRK agreed to continue all the ongoing inter-Korean exchanges and cooperative projects aimed at promoting balanced development of the economy of the Korean Peninsula and increasing mutual benefits.

The exchanges and projects include the reconstruction of inter-Korean railways and roads across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and construction of a special industrial zone in DPRK city of Kaesong and opening a overland route to the DPRK's scenic Mount Geumgang from South Korea.

At last, the two delegations decided to hold the 10th Inter-Korean Ministerial Meeting on April 7-10 in Pyongyang and the Fourth Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Meeting on Feb.11-14 in Seoul.

The Eighth Inter-Korean Ministerial Meeting and the Third Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Meeting were respectively held in October and November of 2002, both in Pyongyang.

The five-member DPRK delegation arrived here via Beijing on Tuesday and will leave Seoul for Pyongyang on Friday morning.

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