 |
S.Korea, DPRK to Ask UN to Issue Statement on Inter-Korean Summit
Seoul and Pyongyang have agreed in principle to launch joint diplomatic activities to ask leaders of UN member countries to issue a statement on the June Inter-Korean summit at the next month UN Millennium Summit in New York.
On a KBS television program Sunday, South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Lee Joung-binn said that he had received a letter from Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, proposing the joint diplomatic activities.
It is unprecedented that a DPRK foreign minister has sent a letter to his South Korean counterpart since diplomats from the two states had previously refused to contact each other before the summit between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and DPRK leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on June 13-15.
The two ministers met on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Bangkok late last month.
During the meeting, Lee proposed that the two sides launch joint preparations for the UN Millennium Summit as part of efforts to step up cooperation in the international community.
"In the wake of the July 26 foreign ministers meeting, the first of its kind, Foreign Minister Paek recently sent a letter which would herald a remarkable progress in the two Koreas' cooperative relations in the international arena,'' Lee said.
He said the DPRK has come out of international diplomatic isolation by joining the ASEAN Regional Forum, but stressing that if Pyongyang wants to secure financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank, it will have to improve ties with the United States and Japan, the two largest share holders of the Manila-based organization.
"North Korea will resume diplomatic normalization talks with Japan on August 21, while Minister Paek and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright may meet on the sidelines of the UN Millennium Summit,'' the South Korean minister said.
It is expected that President Kim Dae-jung will meet DPRK's parliament speaker Kim Yong Nam at the UN summit.
Asked about whether the United States would shift its policies toward the Korean peninsula if the Republican Party won the upcoming presidential election, Lee said that both the Republican and Democratic Parties have no differences on the Korean principle issue as the issue should be resolved directly between the South and North.
In This Section
|