UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a top envoy to South Korea and China and will continue to consult closely with all parties involved in the "critical issue" of North Korea's nuclear program, a UN spokesman said on Friday.
Maurice Strong, the secretary-general's personal envoy, held talks in Seoul last week and in Beijing this week to discuss the recent six-party talks on North Korea.
The three days of discussions in Beijing last week drew delegations from China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, besides the US and North Korea.
In Seoul, Strong reported that "there was a sense of cautious optimism ... on the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the current impasse," Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said.
In Beijing, Strong commended China's "important role" in convening the meeting, he said.
"In both Seoul and Beijing, Strong reaffirmed the active support of the secretary-general for continuation of the negotiating process towards a comprehensive settlement," Eckhard said.
"The secretary-general will continue to consult closely with the parties involved on this critical issue," he added.
During the Beijing talks, North Korea said it would disarm if the US resumed free oil shipments, provided economic and humanitarian aid, signed a nonaggression treaty and opened diplomatic ties.
Outlining a more conciliatory US position, a senior US State Department official said on Thursday the US has dropped its insistence that North Korea meet US nuclear disarmament demands before it can be offered economic assistance and other benefits.
Earlier this week, Annan called on North Korea to immediately ratify the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at the beginning of the year and has since been reported to have said it would develop nuclear weapons, and might carry out tests.
In the latest UN Disarmament Yearbook released on Friday, Annan said that of all the challenges facing the world from weapons of mass destruction, "the total elimination of nuclear weapons must remain the top priority."
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS