N Korea rejects nuclear talks
2003-04-28 12:20
Seoul - North Korea rejected South Korea's call for the Stalinist state to clarify its alleged admission that it had nuclear weapons at inter-Korean ministerial talks on Monday, pool reports said.
The North instead called for national unity against US pressure at the three-day Korean talks, which began in Pyongyang on Sunday, according to state media.
On the second day of negotiations, North Korean chief negotiator Kim Ryong-Song was quoted by South Korean pool reports as insisting that Seoul have no say in the issue.
"The nuclear issue is a matter to be discussed only between North Korea and the United States," Kim told his South Korean counterpart Jeong Se-Hyun.
Jeong hit back and said Seoul "is entitled to raise the issue" as the North's alleged nuclear arms would be violating a 1992 inter-Korean declaration for denuclearising the Korean peninsula.
The inter-Korean talks already hit a snag from the start with the South pressing hard to clarify the alleged atomic bombs and the North turning a deaf ear to the appeals, the pool reports said.
The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Monday carried Kim's keynote speech denouncing that "the United States has escalated the moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK (North Korea) over the nuclear issue while seriously threatening the Korean nation's sovereignty."
"Under the present situation, there is no more urgent task than to reject the unilateral strong-arm action of foreign forces, defend the dignity and sovereignty of the nation and prevent the danger of war and protect the peace of the country by the united efforts of all the Koreans," Kim said.
The North has been locked in a six-month standoff with the United States over its nuclear ambitions.
South Korea, a US ally, has sought to use the inter-Korean talks to help clarify North Korea's alleged admission of having atomic bombs during talks in Beijing with US negotiators last week.
At Sunday's talks, North Korea said it tabled a "new and bold" proposal in discussions with the United States and China last week in Beijing, according to Shin Eon-Sang, South Korean spokesperson to the talks.
Without elaborating on the proposal, North Korea's chief delegate, Kim Ryong-Song, suggested that the two Koreas should move ahead with reconciliation and economic co-operation, the spokesperson said.
South Korean newspapers said Monday North Korea had offered to scrap its nuclear program in return for a package of political and economic steps by the United States.
South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun said on Monday that the crisis could be resolved if Pyongyang secured a firm security guarantee from Washington.
"The key to the nuclear issue is for North Korea to abandon its nuclear program (in return for) guaranteeing its security," Roh said.
The United States has so far adopted a hardline stance in dealing with North Korea, saying any concessions offered will be tantamount to rewarding bad behaviour.
South Korea's senior presidential advisor Ra Jong-Yil said on Monday that Washington and its allies should look at "bright aspects" of the Beijing meeting.
"North Korea has no more cards to play," said Ra, who is to visit Washington on Tuesday for consultations on North Korea.
The cabinet-level talks in Pyongyang marked the first high-level contact between the two Koreas, technically at war, since South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun took office in February.
Seoul officials have said that the North's alleged claim of having nuclear weapons sparked alarm and complicated the inter-Korean talks.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN's chief nuclear monitor, urged the international community to send North Korea a zero-tolerance message on nuclear weapons.
"The situation in North Korea is a very worrying situation. Here is a country who has the capability, who probably has the nuclear material to make a weapon, and we need to make sure that that situation comes under control as soon as we can," he told CNN.