DPRK Calls for Dialogue with US While Russia and S.Korea Mediate

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 18, 2003

DPRK Calls for Dialogue with US While Russia and S.Korea Mediate

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday expressed willingness to hold dialogue with the United States, while Russian envoy set off to Pyongyang seeking a solution to the nuclear crisis and the president-elect of South Korea encouraged the US to negotiate with the DPRK.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the DPRK's official newsa gency, said on Friday that the DPRK is ready for dialogue with the United States over bilateral pending issues.

"If the Bush administration has nothing to regret over the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula before the international community, there is no reason for it to fail to come out to negotiations with the DPRK to settle bilateral pending issues," the KCNA said.

"The US should bear in mind that all the issues can be settled satisfactory at the dialogue with the DPRK only when the former has a sincere attitude based on good faith," it added.

It also urged the United States to conclude a non-aggression treaty with the DPRK and formally abandon its anti-DPRK policy so as to settle the nuclear issue.

Russian presidential envoy and Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov left for Pyongyang on Thursday evening to seek a solution to the crisis over the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Losyukov will make a stopover in Beijing, China, on his way to the DPRK capital. "I hope to reach certain results," Losyukov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying before his departure.

Losyukov, who is in charge of relations with Asian countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said he will have meetings with the DPRK's high-ranking officials "for ways of overcoming the crisis."

Losyukov said he does not rule out a possible trip to Washington after talks in Pyongyang. "I have no such plans. But my trip to the US will depend on the results of the talks in Pyongyang," he noted.

Russia has outlined for the DPRK nuclear crisis "a package settlement plan," which calls for guaranteeing the non-nuclear status of the Korean Peninsula, strict adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a 1994 agreement under which DPRK froze its nuclear program in return for fuel supplies by the United States.

Earlier on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said that Russia does not intend to act as a mediator in the DPRK settlement, but is ready to continue active diplomatic efforts to promote bilateral and multilateral dialogue, including that between the DPRK and the United States.

The South Korea's president-elect Roh Moo-hyun Friday encouraged the United States to talk with the DPRK to defuse the standoff over its nuclear weapons development.

Roh suggested the United States should push for negotiations with Pyongyang while he made a speech to American and European chambers of commerce on Friday morning,.

He said "I would like to persuade the United States to engage actively in dialogue" with the DPRK.

Roh has said he wants South Korea to play a prominent role in resolving the crisis over the DPRK's nuclear development.

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