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Korean leaders to unveil peace declaration
Seoul (AFP) Oct 4, 2007 The North and South Korean leaders were Thursday expected to declare their commitment to peace and a nuclear-free peninsula after a rare summit buoyed by a six-nation deal on disarming the communist state. A declaration to be signed by President Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is likely to reflect a broad commitment to denuclearisation, a peace regime and the easing of military tensions, Seoul officials said in Pyongyang. The declaration will wrap up only the second summit in the 59-year history of the hardline communist North and capitalist South. Pool reports from the North's showpiece capital said it may broadly highlight three top issues -- peace, co-prosperity and reconciliation and unification. The meeting between two nations still technically at war following their 1950-53 conflict appeared largely cordial. Roh's spokesman says it achieved good results. But Roh, who has consistently pushed a "sunshine" engagement policy with the North despite its missile and nuclear tests last year, spoke Wednesday of the need to tear down a wall of mistrust. He said Kim has a "strong will to stabilise peace" but was uneasy about references to economic reform and openness. Roh, quoted by Yonhap news agency, said he "could feel a sense of distrust and disapproval of our use of the terms 'reform' and 'opening' during the meetings" with Kim Jong-Il and de facto head of state Kim Yong-Nam. The North wants a Seoul-funded industrial estate in its border city of Kaesong to be developed faster, Roh said, but does not view it the same way as the South. The South sees Kaesong, which employs more than 13,000 North Koreans in 22 South Korean firms, as a flagship project to reform the North's moribund economy and ease the massive costs of any eventual reunification. "We have often referred to the Kaesong complex as an example of reform and opening, but those terms reflect only the Southern point of view," said Roh, who was to visit the project on his way home Thursday afternoon. Kim may see full-scale economic reform as a threat to his regime and its control over the centrally-directed economy. Yonhap said the North, in the declaration, is expected to reiterate its determination to denuclearise the peninsula. While nothing new, the statement will have been publicly endorsed by Kim Jong-Il. In a six-nation pact made public late Wednesday, the North agreed to declare all its nuclear programmes and disable its main atomic reactor by the end of the year under US supervision. The pact envisages a treaty formally ending the Korean War, which concluded with an armistice, if the North keeps all its nuclear promises. Any peace declaration in Pyongyang would be mainly symbolic, and aimed at creating momentum towards a treaty. It was unclear how detailed the declaration would be. Seoul's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said Roh had proposed creating a joint fishing area along their disputed western sea border, the scene of bloody naval clashes in 1999 and 2002. He also proposed starting work on a second joint industrial park around the North's southwestern city of Haeju, it said. The unpredictable Kim sprang several summit surprises, turning up personally to greet Roh and then arriving 30 minutes early for the summit talks. He also proposed extending the meeting by a day, taking Roh aback, before apparently dropping the idea. The unorthodox diplomacy provoked some unfavourable comment but deputy presidential spokesman Kim Jeong-Seob said Roh had been warmly welcomed. "It was a good chance for us to realise that trust builds more as we talk more," he said Thursday. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
France urges EU partners to take sanctions against Iran
Paris (AFP) Oct 3, 2007French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has written to his EU partners urging them to take economic sanctions to pressure Iran to end its "nuclear defiance", his ministry said Wednesday. |
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