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SLUG: 2-298559 North Korea / Russia
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DATE=01/20/03 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-298559 TITLE=NORKOR/RUSSIA (SHORT) BYLINE=AMY BICKERS DATELINE=TOKYO CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A Russian envoy has reportedly been meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang. As V-O-A's Northeast Asia Correspondent Amy Bickers reports, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov has presented Moscow's proposal for defusing tensions over the North's nuclear weapons development. TEXT: Reports from Russia's ITAR-Tass and China's Xinhua news agencies say that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Losyukov held talks Monday with reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Russia has offered a three-pronged approach to resolve the dispute over the North's nuclear program. It calls for Pyongyang's commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula in exchange for security guarantees and a package of humanitarian and economic aid for the North. North Korean officials warned the Russian diplomat on Sunday that international involvement would complicate a resolution to the nuclear impasse, because in their view it is a strictly bilateral matter between Pyongyang and Washington. The North is insisting on a non-aggression pact with United States - which U-S officials have rejected. U-S National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says the issue is an international - not bilateral - security threat. The Russian package is one of a number of diplomatic efforts underway to defuse the tensions - which surfaced in October when the United States said North Korea had an illegal nuclear weapons development program. (SIGNED) NEB/HK/AB/JO |
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