Summary Top diplomat said Tuesday that the US must accept its offer for dialogue without preconditions.
BRUNEI (AP) - North Korea s top diplomat said Tuesday that the US must accept its offer for dialogue without preconditions if it wants to ease tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.
He drew a quick rebuttal from his South Korean counterpart, who said the international community has made clear that Pyongyang must give up its nuclear ambitions if it wants better relations.
The Koreas were among 27 nations at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum in Brunei, where the North s nuclear weapons program was a key topic, along with other hot-button regional issues such as South China Sea territorial disputes.
Asia s largest security forum includes the U.S., North Korea and the four other countries involved in long-stalled nuclear talks on ending North Korea s nuclear ambitions in return for aid.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that the U.S., South Korea, Japan and China North Korea s chief ally were "absolutely united" in their insistence on a denuclearized North Korea. Washington says Pyongyang must move in that direction before it will agree to talks, but North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun said during the conference Tuesday that it is America that must act.
"The U.S. must positively respond to our sincere and courageous decision (to offer talks) without preconditions if it is truly interested in ending the vicious circle of intensifying tension on the Korean Peninsula and safeguarding peace and stability," Pak said, according to North Korean delegation official Choe Myong Nam.
Pak said that "a touch-and-go situation in which a war can break out anytime is fostered" on the Korean Peninsula, and that US hostility against the North was primarily responsible for that, Choe told reporters. Pak said the US must sign a peace treaty with North Korea to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War and lift sanctions against the country, saying the North Korean nuclear standoff won t be resolved unless the U.S. changes its tone, according to Choe.
The war ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
Shortly after Choe spoke, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told reporters that most diplomats at the forum expressed a "very strong message" to the North Korean delegation that Pyongyang must scrap its nuclear program and refrain from launching another provocation.
"So they must have listened to this message very, very seriously," he said.
After the conference ended Tuesday, a statement by the forum chairman said ministers had reiterated their support for efforts to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula peacefully. It said most ministers had "encouraged" North Korea to honor past disarmament pledges.
North Korea surprisingly offered to talk with the US and rejoin long-stalled international nuclear disarmament talks last month after weeks of tension following its February nuclear test.
The country also recently eased its warlike rhetoric, but has still vowed to bolster its nuclear arsenal, citing what it calls US military threats.
US officials have responded coolly to North Korea s overtures, and analysts say the impoverished country often calls for talks after raising tensions with provocative behavior in order to win outside concessions.
