Korea and US Agree to Resume Nuclear Talks
Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon attended former US President Gerald Ford's state funeral as Korea's representative and met Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte. At their meeting, they exchanged views over North Korean nuclear capability and its inner political and economic situations.
Concerning the North’s nuclear capability, both top-ranking officials concurred that their countries cannot consider the North a nuclear weapon-possessing nation, saying that it is hard to know whether or not the communist regime has successfully conducted its nuclear test yet. However, they stressed that it is serious to both sides for the North to have conducted a nuclear test last year.
Regarding the North’s inner political situations, they shared the idea that the regime has faced economic difficulties, but no political riots have yet occurred. Song also met with US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill where they exchanged views over the ways to resume the six-party talks. This was prior to his meeting scheduled for January 5 with his US counterpart Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. They will discuss possible solutions to North Korea's nuclear standoff within the six-party framework.
A government source said, “They agreed that the last six-party talks in Beijing made no progress, but considered the talks as a sign of progress.” The source added that they also promised to try to produce tangible fruit from the talks next time.
Song also plans to meet Tony Lantos, newly appointed as head of the International Relations Committee. It has jurisdiction over all aspects of United States foreign policy, including diplomatic relations, security policies, participation in international organizations, human rights, and trade development. The Korean Foreign Minister is also scheduled to meet other US lawmakers before returning home on Sunday.
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 / 입력시간: 2007. 01.06. 09:16
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