Kim ready to cease missile tests if 6-party nuclear talks resume
Source: Agencies |
August 25, 2011, Thursday
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NORTH Korea is ready to impose a moratorium on nuclear missile tests if international talks on its nuclear program resume, a spokesperson for Russia's President Dmitry Nedvedev said yesterday.
Russian news agencies, meanwhile, reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said his country was ready to resume talks "without preconditions."
Kim and Medvedev met yesterday at a military garrison near the city of Ulan-Ude in Buryatia, a province near Lake Baikal.
The nuclear talks, involving North Korea and China, the United States, Japan, Russia and South Korea, have been stalled since December 2008. The US and South Korea say North Korea must halt its nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment, before the talks reopen.
Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said Kim expressed readiness to return to the talks without preconditions and "in the course of the talks, North Korea will be ready to resolve the question of imposing a moratorium on tests and production of nuclear missile weapons."
Meanwhile, Medvedev said Russia and North Korea had moved forward on a proposal to ship natural gas to South Korea through a pipeline across North Korea.
Medvedev said the two countries will create a special commission to focus on "bilateral cooperation on gas transit."
He said two-thirds of the 1,100-kilometer pipeline would traverse North Korea to stream up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year to South Korea.
The two leaders also discussed restructuring North Korea's Soviet-era debt to Russia. That totals about US$11 billion, according to a Russian official.
North Korea pledged to freeze its long-range missile tests in 1999, one year after the country shocked the world by firing a missile that flew over northern Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. However, it has since routinely tested short-range missiles and it launched a long-range rocket in April 2009.
The rocket test drew widespread international sanctions and condemnation and North Korea retaliated by pulling out of the six-party talks.
Kim was expected to return to North Korea following his meeting with Medvedev, traveling in the armored train he uses for trips abroad. But Kim's train was seen heading toward eastern Siberia instead of Mongolia, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The itinerary for Kim's visit has been largely kept secret. He was pictured during a visit to a Russian hydroelectric plant whose power lines might be extended to North Korea and he also reportedly visited a major aircraft factory and the town of Skovorodino, starting point for an oil pipeline that links eastern Siberian oil fields to China.
Kim also toured Lake Baikal, the world's deepest and oldest lake.
He told Medvedev he was "having a fun trip."
Russian news agencies, meanwhile, reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said his country was ready to resume talks "without preconditions."
Kim and Medvedev met yesterday at a military garrison near the city of Ulan-Ude in Buryatia, a province near Lake Baikal.
The nuclear talks, involving North Korea and China, the United States, Japan, Russia and South Korea, have been stalled since December 2008. The US and South Korea say North Korea must halt its nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment, before the talks reopen.
Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said Kim expressed readiness to return to the talks without preconditions and "in the course of the talks, North Korea will be ready to resolve the question of imposing a moratorium on tests and production of nuclear missile weapons."
Meanwhile, Medvedev said Russia and North Korea had moved forward on a proposal to ship natural gas to South Korea through a pipeline across North Korea.
Medvedev said the two countries will create a special commission to focus on "bilateral cooperation on gas transit."
He said two-thirds of the 1,100-kilometer pipeline would traverse North Korea to stream up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year to South Korea.
The two leaders also discussed restructuring North Korea's Soviet-era debt to Russia. That totals about US$11 billion, according to a Russian official.
North Korea pledged to freeze its long-range missile tests in 1999, one year after the country shocked the world by firing a missile that flew over northern Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. However, it has since routinely tested short-range missiles and it launched a long-range rocket in April 2009.
The rocket test drew widespread international sanctions and condemnation and North Korea retaliated by pulling out of the six-party talks.
Kim was expected to return to North Korea following his meeting with Medvedev, traveling in the armored train he uses for trips abroad. But Kim's train was seen heading toward eastern Siberia instead of Mongolia, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The itinerary for Kim's visit has been largely kept secret. He was pictured during a visit to a Russian hydroelectric plant whose power lines might be extended to North Korea and he also reportedly visited a major aircraft factory and the town of Skovorodino, starting point for an oil pipeline that links eastern Siberian oil fields to China.
Kim also toured Lake Baikal, the world's deepest and oldest lake.
He told Medvedev he was "having a fun trip."
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