Talks between north and south sides close
Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- Talks between Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Yong Sun and Rim Tong Won, special aide of Chongwadae on diplomacy, security and unification who is special envoy of President Kim Dae Jung, came to an end on Jan. 28. At the talks, the north side referred to the fact that there opened a new chapter of the history in which all the Koreans have pooled their efforts in the common idea of "By Our Nation Itself" over the last two and a half years since the historic Pyongyang meeting. It underscored the need for all Koreans to firmly maintain the stand of giving prominence to the nation, regarding the June 15 Joint Declaration provided by the top leaders of the north and the south as a milestone common to the nation and for the two parts of Korea to go united no matter how the situation may change.Now that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is getting tense, the north and the south should work harder than ever before to avert the danger of a war and defend peace in conformity with the will and interests of the nation, it noted, and continued:
It is the only way of most fairly solving the "nuclear issue" on the Korean Peninsula for the DPRK and the U.S. to have direct talks on an equal footing. The DPRK-U.S. negotiations should be held and the proposal for concluding a non-aggression treaty between them should be realized as called for by the DPRK.
