No economic co-operation with N Korea yet, says south
South Korea told US officials it has no plans to launch “large-scale” economic co-operation with North Korea before the dispute over the communist state’s nuclear weapons programmes is resolved, the country’s foreign minister said today.
Meanwhile, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun urged the North to return to six-nation talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons programmes. North Korea has refused to return to the negotiations until Washington abandons its alleged “hostile” policy.
“If North Korea has anything to allege, it should make the allegations at the negotiating table,” Roh told a meeting of his top security ministers, his office said.
Roh received reports from his unification minister and Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, who returned today from Washington, and told them to “coolly and calmly” analyse North Korea’s statement last week and “cautiously” handle the issue.
Ban said today that South Korea would continue to provide aid to poverty-stricken North Korea out of “humanitarian concern” despite the North’s claim of having produced nuclear weapons.
In meetings with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday in Washington, Ban also explained the importance of the construction of a joint economic zone in Kaesong in North Korea, which he said was only in the pilot stage.
“We don’t have any plans to launch large-scale inter-Korean economic co-operation” as the North Korean nuclear issue is yet to be resolved, Ban said he told US officials.
Ban said South Korea hasn’t made a decision yet regarding a recent request by North Korea for 500,000 tons of fertiliser, and would evaluate “various situations” before determining its position.
In Washington, Ban said US and South Korean officials agreed that China should play a more active role in urging North Korea to rejoin the six-nation talks, which include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
He said there had been no discussion of possible harsher measures such as sanctions against North Korea, and that the two sides agreed to focus on resolving the two-year stand-off through negotiations.
“At this stage, we haven’t discussed and there is no need to discuss any possible pressure,” Ban said. “We must focus on trying to resolve the problem through dialogue.”
North Korea announced last Thursday that it has nuclear weapons and will boycott disarmament talks, escalating a two-year-old nuclear standoff with the United States and its allies.
Since the revelation, the United States, South Korea and China – the North’s last major ally – have renewed diplomatic efforts to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons development in return for economic benefits.
South Korea plans to send Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon to China tomorrow for talks aimed at restarting the disarmament negotiations.
On Tuesday, South Korean intelligence officials said that while North Korea may have produced nuclear bombs, it lacks the technology to make them small enough to deliver by missile. The state intelligence service, however, said the communist state might be able to carry the bombs on aircraft, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Washington says it believes the North has one or two nuclear weapons.
