North Korea said yesterday that establishing a peace agreement on the divided Korean Peninsula to replace the 1953 ceasefire that halted the Korean War would be a way to resolve its nuclear standoff with the US, renewing a long-standing demand ahead of revived disarmament talks.
A peace pact would "lead to putting an end to the US hostile policy toward [North Korea], which spawned the nuclear issue," a spokesman from the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. That would "automatically result in the denuclearization of the peninsula."
The unnamed spokesman, quoted by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, said such a move would "give a strong impetus" to arms talks set to resume Tuesday in Beijing.
The North said earlier this month it would end its 13-month boycott of the talks -- which include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US -- after being reassured by a US envoy that Washington recognized its sovereignty. Three previous rounds aimed at convincing the North to disarm have failed to resolve the nuclear standoff.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has given recent encouraging signs about prospects for the talks -- mentioning to a visiting South Korean Cabinet minister last month that the denuclearization of the peninsula was the dying wish of his father, the North's founding ruler Kim Il-sung who died in 1994.
However, it wasn't clear if the North's new demand could throw off next week's talks by creating yet another negotiating point to be hashed out among the six countries. The North's delegation to the talks, led by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, departed yesterday for Beijing, KCNA reported.
The North said its new request "presents itself as an issue pending an urgent solution for fairly settling the nuclear issue between [North Korea] and the US."
Separately, the North's Foreign Ministry repeated its demands for diplomatic recognition and a nonaggression treaty with the US in exchange for giving up its nuclear program in comments to China's official Xinhua News Agency late Thursday. The North also asked to be removed from the US list of countries that sponsor terrorism and that economic sanctions against it be dropped.
Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, the South's nuclear envoy, said yesterday that all five countries in the talks besides the North "have reaffirmed their will to negotiate seriously and produce substantial and visible results." However, he acknowledged there were "differences" in their approaches that would have to be discussed during the talks, but declined to elaborate.
"This could be a long process," Song said of finding a resolution to the nuclear standoff.
The US has refused to give concessions until North Korea has been certified as free of nuclear weapons, but the North insists it get something first before abandoning its atomic program. South Korea said this month it has also offered massive energy aid to the North if it agrees to disarm.
The North alleged yesterday that Washington has for decades stifled efforts to turn the Korean War ceasefire into a lasting peace agreement. Doing so "is essential not only for the peace and reunification of Korea but for the peace and security in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world," the North's spokesman said.
The July 27, 1953, ceasefire ending the Korean War established the 4km-wide Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula. There have been periodic talks since then about establishing a peace treaty, but they have failed to make any progress.
In the absence of a treaty, the two Koreas remain technically at war and hundreds of thousands of troops face off across their border. Since 2000, the two countries have sought to reconcile as South Korea has pursued a policy of engagement with its communist neighbor to foster reform.
About 32,500 US troops are deployed in South Korea as a legacy of the Korean War.
North Korea's current nuclear standoff was sparked in 2002 after US officials accused it of running a secret uranium enrichment program. The North has since withdrawn from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and made moves that would allow it to create more radioactive materials for atomic bombs. In February, North Korea claimed it had nuclear weapons, but it hasn't performed any known tests that would confirm its arsenal.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
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