DPRK statement a positive step: Powell

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 07, 2004

DPRK statement a positive step: Powell

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US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that the announcement by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to suspend its nuclear programs is a positive step which may help parties concerned to resume talks designed to settle the nuclear issue.

"It was an interesting statement. It was a positive statement,"Powell told reporters in a joint appearance with visiting Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia.

"They (the DPRK people) in effect said they won't test, and they implied that they would give up all aspects of their nuclear program, not just weapons program," he added.

"And this is an interesting step on their part, a positive step,and we hope that it will allow us to move more rapidly toward six-party framework talks," Powell said, referring to talks which involve China, the DPRK, the United States, South Korea, Japan andRussia.

"But what we're looking at is what should be the outcome of those talks, so that it is not just a discussion but we see real progress at the end of those talks. And I'm encouraged. I'm encouraged by the statement the North Koreans (the DPRK people) made," the secretary said.

Powell said that he was convinced that all of the six parties want to get back to the negotiating table.

"We are not sitting at a table does not mean we have not been talking to each other. And a lot of papers have gone back and forth and we are in touch with our four partners in this effort, and some of our partners are directly in touch with North Korea (DPRK). So we've been doing a lot."

"I hope that the next six-party talks, when they occur, will take us a step beyond where we have been with the trilateral and the first six-party talks," Powell stressed.

The DPRK offer to suspend its nuclear programs came as parties concerned are trying to arrange a new round of six-party talks on the nuclear issue. The talks, originally planned for last December,were postponed because of differences between Pyongyang and Washington.

In a statement released by DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, Pyongyang said that it "is set to refrain from test and production of nuclear weapons and stop even operating nuclear power industry for a peaceful purpose as first-phase measures of the package solution."

"This cannot but be one more bold concession," the statement said.

Source: Xinhua

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