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DPRK FM Spokesman on Outcome of ARF Ministerial Meeting

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

    Pyongyang, July 6 (KCNA) -- The DPRK considers it necessary for the ASEAN Regional Forum to invariably maintain impartiality if it is to substantially contribute to the settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula. A spokesman for the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this in an answer given to a question put by KCNA Tuesday as regards the recent ministerial meeting of the ARF. He said:
    The meeting discussed disarmament in the Asia-Pacific region, security in the region, anti-terrorism struggle, the situation on the Korean peninsula and other issues and adopted the 11th ARF chairman's statement as a final document.
    The DPRK positively took note of the fact that at the meeting the majority of the member nations of the forum asserted a negotiated peaceful solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and the paragraph of the statement dealing with the issue of the Korean peninsula underlined the importance of the way of settling the nuclear issue on the principle of "words for words" and "action for action" proposed by the DPRK.
    In order to seek a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue under the present situation where elementary confidence does not exist between the DPRK and the U.S. it is essential to give priority to the issue of wiping out the bilateral distrust.
    The outcome of the meeting constitutes an expression of support to the DPRK's stand that the principle of a package solution based on simultaneous actions and the proposal for "reward for freeze," the first phase measure to implement the principle, are the only way of building confidence between the DPRK and the U.S.