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EU Proposes Diplomatic Link with DPRK at Regional Level
The European Commission said on March 30 it has proposed a diplomatic relation with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) at the European Union (EU) level and it would ask EU governments to support such a link in order to play a role in the peace process on the Korean peninsula.
"We have taken the first procedural step that may lead to the establishment of diplomatic relations if there is unanimous support for this," said Gunnar Wiegand, spokesman for Chris Patten, foreign policy chief of the European Commission, the EU executive arm.
The move came after EU leaders agreed last week to play a role in supporting peace on the Korean peninsula, although the 15- nation bloc denies that it is trying to upstage the United States, which has announced a review of policy toward the DPRK.
"Our efforts are not intended to replace the effort being made by the United States, but to complement that role because we have the same objectives," Wiegand said.
DPRK's lack of formal bilateral relations with France and Ireland -- the only two EU countries without such ties -- would not necessarily prevent links being established at the EU level, he said.
"You can have a situation when not every single (EU) member state would have diplomatic relations bilaterally, but those member states would vote in favor of establishing diplomati relations between the European communities and that country," he added.
Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, will visit both DPRK and South Korea in the coming weeks.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the DPRK Choi Su-Hon is due to visit Paris next week where the possibility of establishing bilateral ties with France is expected to be discussed, according to an EU agenda.
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