[USFK Forums] Japan, S. Korea urge North to return to nuke talks despite sanctions

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Japan, S. Korea urge North to return to nuke talks despite sanctions

Tuesday March 14, 6:06 PM

(Kyodo) _ The Japanese and South Korean chief delegates to the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions reaffirmed Tuesday the importance for North Korea to immediately and unconditionally return to the talks, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

The chief delegates also called on Pyongyang not to use the issue of U.S. sanctions as grounds to decide on whether it is to return to the negotiating table, the official said.

Kenichiro Sasae, director general of the ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chun Young Woo during a meeting here called it undesirable for Pyongyang not to return to the talks due to the sanctions, and agreed to step up efforts for the early resumption of the multilateral talks, the official said.

Chun, who took over his post from predecessor Song Min Soon last month, is in Japan on a two-day visit through Tuesday. The two senior diplomats also renewed their concerns over North Korea's nuclear development and agreed to address the issue with a "sense of urgency," the official said.

The six-party talks remain stalled, with North Korea refusing to return to the negotiating table until the United States lifts financial sanctions it imposed last September on Macao-based bank Banco Delta Asia SARL last September for allegedly distributing counterfeit dollars and laundering money for North Korea. Chun declined to elaborate to reporters on his exchanges with Sasae after their talks, only saying, "We exchanged views and it was a very, very constructive meeting."

Their meeting came after U.S. and North Korean officials held talks last week on the financial sanctions in New York. The talks appear to have produced no specific agreement between the two countries.

Pyongyang has said it is not conducting illegal activities, while Washington maintains the sanctions and nuclear negotiations are separate issues.

Chun and Sasae were quoted by the official as agreeing on the need to urge China, the chair of the six-party talks, to further continue making efforts for the resumption of the six-party talks at an early date ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's scheduled visit to the United States in late April.

They also confirmed the importance of bilateral cooperation together with the United States to achieve a diplomatic and peaceful resolution of North Korea's nuclear issue through the six-party talks which also include Russia, the official said.

The two also compared notes on their respective visits to China, the official said. Chun went to Beijing last week and met with Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, his Chinese counterpart at the nuclear talks.

That same week, Sasae visited Beijing for bilateral talks on the two countries' dispute over gas exploration rights in the East China Sea. On the sidelines of such talks, Sasae met with Wu to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue.



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