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Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon
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Foreign Ministry spokesperson Shin Bong-kil said Monday that Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon received a phone call from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in which Powell said the United States had handed over sovereignty to Iraq two days ahead of schedule. Ban told Powell that as the security of all foreigners in Iraq, including Koreans, was very important, he hoped the U.S. would take all necessary measures possible to ensure their safety.
Ban said to Powell, ¡°I hope that since the United States has transferred power to Iraqis, the situation in Iraq would quickly stabilize.¡±
Shin announced a statement on the Iraqi power transfer, saying, ¡°We welcome the event as a very important step to normalize the situation in Iraq soon.¡±
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In a ceremony to transfer sovereignty to Iraq, which was held in Baghdad on Monday, the Administrator of the U.S-led Coalition of Provisional Authority, Paul Bremer (right), hands over documents of the sovereignty transfer to Mithat al-Mahmud (left), the Iraqi Supreme Court Chief Justice. Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi watches with a smile.
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In the meantime, Ban is to depart Tuesday to participate in the Asian Regional Forum (ARF) which will take place from the first day of next month in Jakarta, Indonesia.
During ARF, the Asia-Pacific region¡¯s only governmental security forum, Ban is to explain the Korean government¡¯s stance on the Kim Sun-il¡¯s incident, and assert the importance of security through cooperation against terrorism. Moreover, Ban is to meet respectively with Baek Nam-soon, the Foreign Minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
During the second such meeting between the foreign ministers of the two Koreas (the first was in July, 2000), Ban will assess the results of the third six-party talks, and bring topics of permanently establishing diplomatic channels between the two Koreas. During talks with Powell, both countries will discuss plans to strengthen the after the reduction of U.S. troops in Korea, plans to send more Korean troops to Iraq and counter-terrorism cooperation.
(Lee Ha-won, may2@chosun.com )
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