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North Korea reportedly asked to be recognized as a nuclear state at a meeting of foreign ministers from countries in six-party talks on Wednesday. North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun urged the U.S. to stop its hostile policy toward the North, saying verification of the nuclear facilities and stockpiles it has declared is not a duty but cooperation.
Pak made the remarks in a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore.
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Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a bilateral meeting in Singapore on Wednesday morning. /Yonhap
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A diplomatic source said since the recent round of the six-party talks, North Korea has called for verifying South Korea's nuclear program too, so that the North can cooperate in the verification protocol. ¡°It is also demanding to be given the status of a nuclear state,¡± the source added.
In the nuclear declaration it submitted to the talks in June, the North speaks of itself ¡°as a nuclear state,¡± the diplomat said.
Pak was meeting with his counterparts from South Korea, Yu Myung-hwan, the U.S., Condoleezza Rice, China, Yang Jiechi, Japan, Masahiko Komura, and Russia, Sergei Lavrov. It was the first meeting of foreign ministers since the six-party talks began in August 2003.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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