South Korea's president yesterday called for a meeting with the leaders of the US, North Korea and China to formally end the war that has split the Korean peninsula for more than 50 years.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said that such a summit would help international efforts to scrap the North's nuclear weapons program and conclude a peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended the 1950 to 1953 Korean War.
"In order to push for the prompt nuclear dismantlement of North Korea and the conclusion of a peace treaty, the leaders of the concerned countries need to make a joint declaration and set up a definite milestone," Roh told a security forum in the southern port city of Busan.
Political analysts have said that Roh is pressing for a summit to secure a positive legacy for what has been a largely unpopular presidency, but that he stands little chance of brokering the first meeting between the leaders of the US and North Korea -- two long-time foes.
US President George W. Bush and China's ambassador to South Korea have said that a peace treaty cannot be reached until North Korea has abandoned its nuclear weapons program.
"The North's nuclear program is essentially related to the armistice regime, so both issues need to be dealt with at the same time," Roh said.
"The reason that we are pushing for a four-party summit is simple," he said. "It's aimed at making North Korea carry out its nuclear dismantlement promise at an early date."
Roh said that although the North has a clear commitment to disarming, it will be a long and complicated process to complete the denuclearization and a Korean Peninsula peace treaty.
He said "unforeseen obstacles" may lurk within the process.
Roh said a four-nation summit would help fend off some of those obstacles. But he added, "We can never say the Bush administration has enough time."
Bush's second and final term ends in January 2009. Roh leaves office in February next year and is barred by the Constitution from seeking re-election.
Roh said holding such a summit at the end of peace treaty negotiations would be of no use, and would only amount to a "toast."
North Korea agreed in a deal with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US to disable by the end of the year its nuclear complex that makes plutonium for nuclear weapons in exchange for massive aid and an end to its status as an international pariah.
North Korea last week began disabling its plutonium-producing nuclear plants at Yongbyon under an accord with five negotiating partners -- South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia.
The ceasefire that ended the 1950 to 1953 Korean War was signed by the US on behalf of UN forces, China and North Korea. The North's powerful military has said that South Korea did not deserve a seat at the table for peace treaty talks because it did not sign the armistice.
But Roh and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il agreed at a summit last month to bring peace to the Cold War's last frontier by seeking talks with the US and China.
The peace deal will likely be discussed this week when prime ministers from the two Koreas hold their first meeting in 15 years.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS