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On Tuesday, in regards to the North Korean nuclear weapons program issue dealt with in the six-way talks, Park Gil-yeon, North Korean Ambassador to the UN, said that North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons program if various conditions are satisfied.
Their final aim was to free the Korean peninsula from nuclear weapons but the distrust and misunderstanding is the biggest obstacle in achieving it, Park added during the "Korean Peninsula Peace Security Forum" in Washington.
Park also denied that North Korea had a highly enriched uranium program, which the U.S. has repeatedly demanded they abandon. In return, he blamed the U.S. for simply trying to find excuses to make problems.
As for whether the alleged civilian nuclear facilities would be abandoned or not, Han reaffirmed the North's existing position by saying that since they were for peaceful energy production, there was no point in abandoning them.
This forum, sponsored by the Korea Society and other groups, was held in a U.S. Senate office building for six hours. Donald Gregg, chairman of the Korea Society and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Johns Hopkins professor Don Oberdorfer and four members of the Uri party presented at the forum.
The forum drew attention as it was not only held as the U.S. awaits a response from North Korea to its proposed solution to the nuclear issue, but also because the U.S. State Department unprecedentedly gave high-ranking North Korean diplomats permission to visit the U.S. capital.
(Heo,Yong-beom, heo@chosun.com )
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