South Korean President Visits US Airforce Base

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 27, 2002

South Korean President Visits US Airforce Base

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South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said Friday that a joint defense system with the US Forces Korea (USFK) has a more important role now than ever before in maintaining peace and stability throughout Northeast Asia, the national news agency Yonhap News reported.

The remarks, made when Kim visited the air force's Operations Command at Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province on Friday, came after a recent move by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to reactivate its frozen nuclear facilities.

The military forces should be fully prepared for any emergencies and maintain the solidity of the joint defense system with the USFK to back up a peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue in cooperation with the United States, Japan and the rest of the international community, Kim said.

The president also visited a base of the US Air Force near the Operations Command.

Accompanying him were South Korean National Defense Minister Lee Jun, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lee Nam-shin, Air Force Chief of Staff Kim Dae-wook and USFK Commander Leon J. LaPorte.

On the same day, South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun also urged Pyongyang to reverse a series of recent steps to reactivate its nuclear program and restore seals and monitoring cameras installed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at various facilities, Yonhap reported.

According to the IAEA, the DPRK has begun moving fresh fuel rods into a reactor to reactivate the nuclear facility mothballed under a 1994 agreement with the United States, arousing serious concerns all over the world.

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