Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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May 30, 2007

North Korea Stays Mum on Nuclear Weapons as Talks Open With South
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=17A82E2:A6F02AD83191E160096318AD349FF5A09574F7DCC14957C0 Seoul tells
Pyongyang relationship between two countries depends on its commitment
to dismantle nuclear programs North and South Korea have formally
opened high-level talks in Seoul, but delegates from the North are
remaining silent so far about Pyongyang's commitment to dismantle its
nuclear programs. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from the South Korean
capital.







South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, left, walks with
North Korea's delegation chief Kwon Ho Ung, 30 May 2007At Wednesday's
opening session of minister-level talks between the two Koreas, South
Korea told the North the two countries' relationship depends on
Pyongyang implementing a promise it made in February to begin shutting
down its nuclear weapons program.

Koh Kyoung-bin is a spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry.

Koh says in Wednesday's opening remarks, South Korean delegates told
the North that mutual trust and cooperation is linked to Pyongyang's
implementation of the February nuclear agreement.

Pyongyang promised during talks in Beijing with South Korea, Russia,
China, Japan and the United States that it would shut down its main
nuclear production facility within 60 days.

That deadline passed without action more than a month and a half ago,
however, with Pyongyang citing a technical banking issue involving
funds frozen in a Macau bank as the reason for its delay.



Spokesman Koh says the North Korean delegates made no mention
whatsoever of the nuclear issue in their opening remarks Wednesday.

He says the only verbal references of any kind to the nuclear issue at
the Wednesday morning session came from the South Korean side.

North Korea also did not initially bring up a South Korean promise of
massive aid in the form of rice and light industrial supplies. South
Korean officials have said they would delay shipping that aid until
Pyongyang starts implementing the February agreement.

Instead, North Korea spoke favorably about the range of inter-Korean
joint projects that have been established since the two countries held
their first and only summit in 2000. Koh says the North Korean
delegates urged the South to keep inter-Korean relations independent
of influence from "outside powers."

He says the North Koreans called on the South to stop antagonizing the
North by staging joint military drills with the United States.

The United States stations about 28,000 troops here in South Korea to
deter a repeat of North Korea's 1950 invasion. The three-year war that
resulted from that invasion has never come to a formal end: fighting
was halted by a "temporary" armistice in 1953.


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