Roh Moo-hyun Convinced DPRK Nuclear Issue Can be Solved Peacefully

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 14, 2003

Roh Moo-hyun Convinced DPRK Nuclear Issue Can be Solved Peacefully

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South Korean President Roh Moo-hyunon Sunday reiterated that he believed the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) could be solved peacefully through dialogue and diplomatic ways.

In order to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, the most important task is to settle the DPRK nuclear crisis, Roh stressed in a ceremony commemorating a Korean temporary government established in 1919 in Shanghai by Korean patriots opposing the Japanese colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula at that time.

Moreover, Roh underscored that any thing that may trigger the situation on the peninsula should not happen again, according to South Korean national news agency Yonhap News.

The president also said he will discuss carefully on the DPRK nuclear issue with US President Gorge W. Bush during his trip to the United States slated in mid-May, and seek close cooperation from Japan, China, Russia and the European Union, reported Yonhap.

The nuclear standoff erupted last October when the US government said the DPRK secretly developed a uranium enrichment program in breach of the 1994 Agreed Framework signed between the United States and the DPRK.

Then the DPRK declared it will reactivate its frozen nuclear facilities to make up its shortage of electricity since the UnitedStates halted fuel oil shipment to it last November.

Later on, the DPRK expelled the inspectors of the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and announced its withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in January this year.

Also on Sunday, an unidentified South Korean official was quoted by Yonhap as saying the government welcomed the remarks made by a DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday that Pyongyang will not stick to any particular dialogue format for settlement of the nuclear issue if the United States drops its anti-DPRK policy.

"We consider the remark by the DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman as a positive step," said the official, adding, "We will wait and see if the DPRK will take concrete measures."

Pyongyang has repeatedly said that to hold bilateral talks withWashington and to sign a non-aggression treaty with the United States to guarantee the security of DPRK's sovereignty is the onlyway of addressing the nuclear issue.

However, the US administration insisted on solving the issue within a multilateral form, in which countries concerned such as the DPRK, United States, South Korea, Russia, China and Japan could hold dialogues.

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