S. Korea welcomes nuclear accord, calls for new talks<\/p>\n
SEOUL (AFP): South Korea and Japan yesterday welcomed a U.S.-
\nNorth Korea accord on restructuring the North's controversial
\nnuclear program, with Seoul's president, Kim Young-sam, calling
\non Pyongyang to reopen talks with the South.<\/p>\n
"A basis for a complete solution to the nuclear issue and the
\nmaintenance of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula has
\nbeen laid," Kim said in a budget speech read on his behalf at the
\nNational Assembly.<\/p>\n
"We hope that the North's new leadership ... comes to the
\ndialogue table and cooperates with us on the road to peace and
\nco-prosperity for the Korean people," Kim said.<\/p>\n
Japan also hailed the accord reached in Geneva late Monday.
\n"We would like to welcome (it)," Foreign Minister Yohei Kono told
\na press conference.<\/p>\n
Kono said the agreement should help clear the way for the
\nresumption of Japan-North Korea talks on diplomatic
\nnormalization. "Generally speaking, one obstacle has been
\nlifted," he said.<\/p>\n
The South Korean president, however, stopped short of
\nproposing any speedy revival of the inter-Korean summit aborted
\nby a sudden death of North Korea President Kim Il-sung on July 8.<\/p>\n
Officials here noted that Kim Il-sung's eldest son and
\ndesignated successor, Kim Jong-il, had not yet assumed the two
\ntop posts left vacant by his father -- state president and party
\nsecretary general.<\/p>\n
The Kim statement sealed an embarrassing policy about-face for
\nSeoul, which analysts here said it had to take to avoid risking
\nsoured ties with Washington and sidelining itself in the U.S.-
\nNorth Korea talks.<\/p>\n
Only a week ago, Kim accused Washington of rushing into a
\nhalf-baked compromise with Pyongyang and suggested that the
\ndiplomatically-isolated North would be left to implode under the
\nweight of its economic difficulties.<\/p>\n
Water reactors<\/p>\n
The agreement was called a "framework document" by U.S.
\nAssistant Secretary of State, Robert Gallucci, who announced it
\nat a press conference in Geneva.<\/p>\n
"I think it is a broadly acceptable and positive agreement,"
\nGallucci said, adding he would return to Geneva on Friday to sign
\nthe accord, provided it is backed by the North Korean and U.S.
\ngovernments.<\/p>\n
The agreement aims to prevent North Korea from developing an
\natomic arsenal, thereby removing the threat of a nuclear arms
\nrace on the Korean peninsula, in exchange for international aid
\nto Pyongyang.<\/p>\n
It also contained a "political and a diplomatic dimension ...
\nand provisions relating to representations in Washington and
\nPyongyang," Gallucci said.<\/p>\n
Gallucci refused to disclose the details but South Korean
\nForeign Minister Han Sung-joo said North Korea had agreed to open
\nall its nuclear facilities, including two undeclared ones
\nsuspected of storing nuclear waste for weapons.<\/p>\n
When North Korea freezes nuclear activities and accepts IAEA
\n(International Atomic Energy Agency) inspections of all its
\nfacilities, "nuclear transparency of the past, present, and
\nfuture will be guaranteed," Han said.<\/p>\n
Han said he believed the North would implement the accord,
\nbecause: "It knows its implementation will be in its best
\ninterest."<\/p>\n
South Korea's state-run Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) radio
\nsaid it had learned that the contents of the accord called on the
\nUnited States to provide two 1,000-megawatt light water reactors
\nby the year 2003.<\/p>\n
In return, North Korea will tear down a five-megawatt reactor
\nand a controversial radio-chemistry lab and scrap the
\nconstruction of a 50-megawatt and a 200-megawatt reactor to
\nprevent production of plutonium.<\/p>",
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