South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun told a visiting North Korean delegation yesterday that the two countries should work together to resolve the issue of the North's nuclear development.
Roh made the comments ahead of a lunch at the presidential Blue House with the delegation, which was wrapping up a visit to South Korea for joint celebrations of the peninsula's liberation from Japanese rule.
"President Roh in particular emphasized that the North and South should make efforts together to make actual progress for the resolution of the nuclear issue in the fourth round of six-party talks to resume at the end of August," Blue House spokesman Kim Man-soo said.
The latest round of talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear ambitions is in recess after the six negotiating countries failed to agree earlier this month. The North insists it should still have the right to "peaceful" nuclear activities if it gives up its weapons, but Washington wants the communist nation to be nuclear-free.
The talks -- among the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia -- are to resume the week of Aug. 29 in Beijing.
South Korea has continued its engagement with the North despite the international standoff over the communist country's nuclear weapons program.
The two Koreas are separated by the world's most heavily armed border and remain technically at war since the 1953 cease-fire that halted the Korean War. No peace treaty has ever been signed.
Led by Kim Ki-nam, vice chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the North Korean delegation on Sunday visited South Korea's main cemetery honoring dead from the Korean War -- the first-ever such visit by officials from the North.
The group was scheduled to head back to Pyongyang later yesterday.
Roh told also told the visitors before the lunch that he felt the joint celebrations marked a new stage in relations on the Korean Peninsula, a joint pool report said.
"In particular, it was a great thing that you visited the National Cemetery. That will become the foundation on which good things will continue to happen in the future," Roh said, according to the pool report.
Roh and his guests dined on Chinese food, including shark's fin and steamed swallow's nest, according to the pool report.
Kim Ki-nam delivered regards to Roh from the communist country's leader, Kim Jong-il, and thanked him for sending food and fertilizers to the North, according to the report. Roh also passed on his greetings to Kim Jong-il, Blue House spokesman Kim said.
On Tuesday, the delegates made the first visit by North Koreans to the parliament in Seoul, the National Assembly.
Kim One-ki, the National Assembly's speaker, proposed a meeting between parliamentary speakers from the two Koreas in New York next month, said Kim Key-man, senior press secretary to the speaker, adding that the idea was met with a positive response.
Kim One-ki's counterpart is Choe Thae-bok, chairman of North Korea's legislature, the Supreme People's Assembly. If it goes ahead, the meeting would take place on the sidelines of the World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments scheduled for Sept. 7-8 at the UN.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was