S Korea wants talks soon

2003-04-15 12:05

Seoul - South Korea on Tuesday called for talks with North Korea "as soon as possible" to resolve a nuclear crisis as President Roh Moo-Hyun set himself the goal of averting the collapse of the bankrupt Stalinist state.

A senior South Korean official said Seoul was unwilling to speculate on how long it would take before talks materialised following North Korea's announcement last week that it was prepared to take part in multilateral negotiations.

"Our position is that the most important thing is to hold the talks as soon as possible," said Shim Yoon-Joe, director general of the North American bureau at the foreign ministry here. "I am not in a position to comment about when talks would take place."

Earlier, another foreign ministry official said discussions on the format for talks were under way, but cautioned that it was premature to discuss timing and who would take part.

"At this point, those kind of details are out of context. We are just starting to discuss how to develop North Korea's cooperation to ease the path to talks," he said.

Unification minister Jeong Se-hyun said on Monday South Korea was in contact with the United States and China to discuss the format for the talks

He said Seoul was advocating a so-called "four plus two" format involving North Korea and South Korea plus China, Russia, Japan and the United States.

Reports that China and North Korea wanted to exclude Russia and Japan from the talks were unconfirmed here.

"We can't rule that out entirely but it does seem implausible at this stage," said a foreign ministry spokesperson.

Roh Moo-Hyun, in an interview with Munhwa Ilbo, a Seoul daily, published on Tuesday said South Korea was a key player in the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons drive and its goal was to encourage the Stalinist state to "avoid its collapse and change its course through cooperation."

He said that his offer of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was off the table for the moment.

"Actually it is not the proper time to hold a summit between North and South Korea which I think cannot solve North korea's nuclear problem right now," he was quoted as saying.

"At this moment it is more important to create a favourable atmosphere for dialogue between North Korea and the United States."

For months North Korea has rejected multilateral talks but on Saturday it signalled through a foreign ministry spokesperson it would accept any form of dialogue with Washington if the latter dropped its hostile policy toward the communist state.

North Korea's move was welcomed worldwide and sparked hope for an early end to the crisis that began in October when North Korea reportedly admitted that it was running a secret uranium-enrichment program, in violation of a 1994 nuclear deal between the two countries.

North Korea has for several months asked for a non-aggression pact and direct talks to resolve the crisis. Washington, which has not ruled out the military option, has insisted on multilateral talks.

During the six-month-standoff North Korea has raised tension by restarting a mothballed nuclear reactor, pulling out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and test-firing short range missile.

North Korea already has one or two nuclear weapons and could produce half a dozen more within months, according to the United States.

President Roh, however, said he was unconvinced that North Korea already possessed nuclear weapons and predicted an eventual easing of the crisis and an end to the Stalinist state's isolation.

"Eventually North Korea will give up its nuclear programmes and missiles while other countries work together to secure safety and provide economic aid for North Korea to take part in the international community," he said."

- AFX