Kim Solicits EU Support on NK Nuke Row
2003-02-11
President Kim Dae-jung on Tuesday (Feb. 11) called for the European Union's support in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully through dialogue.
During a meeting with Javier Solana, E.U. foreign policy chief, at Cheong Wa Dae, Kim also asked the E.U. to go ahead with its earlier plan to send a high-level delegation to Pyongyang to mediate the nuclear issue.
“Sending an E.U. delegation to the North will help find a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear threat,” Kim was quoted as saying.
Kim said he was satisfied with the “close, cooperative and friendly relations” between Korea and the E.U., particularly in the fields of diplomacy, economy and culture, noting this year marks the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
After meeting with President Kim, Solana paid a courtesy call on President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Choi Sung-hong and Defense Minister Lee Jun to discuss the nuclear standoff on the Korean peninsula and other matters of mutual concern.
Choi thanked the E.U. for its active role in tackling the North Korean nuclear issue and called for its continued efforts.
Solana said in Tokyo earlier that he was still hoping to visit North Korea and meet its leader Kim Jong-il to help negotiate a solution to the crisis over its nuclear weapons program.
“It's politically confirmed, yes, but we have preferred to have first a more profound debate affirmed here in Japan and in Seoul,” he told reporters at the end of a two-day trip before his arrival here.
Meanwhile, the Greek E.U. presidency announced on Monday that the European Union had delayed its mission to North Korea aimed at resolving the peninsula's nuclear crisis.
“A majority of countries feel the time isn't right to carry out the visit,” a spokesman said. Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who was to lead the mission, will now visit only Beijing when he heads to Asia on Friday.
The nuclear crisis began in October with allegations by Washington that North Korea was pursuing a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 deal that ended a previous nuclear showdown.
Angered by a U.S. decision to cut off fuel aid, energy-starved North Korea moved in December to restart its nuclear facilities frozen under the 1994 accord with the United States, expelling International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and withdrawing from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
Last week the Stalinist state said the Korean peninsula would be reduced to a “land of ashes” if the U.S. went ahead with planned troop deployments in the region.
Source : www.korea.net
