Seoul: China needed in Korea treaty

The meeting could be a prelude to a formal peace treaty.

 

 

On Sunday Cheon said Seoul “plans to push for [the summit] by listening to Chinese opinions”, adding that he was not sure whether the meeting could be held before Roh leaves office in February.

 

Korean summit

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Song Min-soon, the foreign minister, said the parties could announce talks to end the Korean War if there was progress in negotiations to end Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

 

And on Monday, Roh told legislators that he believed the standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons programme would soon be resolved.

 

“I’m confident the North Korean nuclear issue will rapidly arrive at a complete resolution,” he said in a written speech read to the national assembly.

 

The US has pledged to discuss peace but has insisted that any final settlement would depend on Pyongyang’s total disarmament of its nuclear arsenal.

 

A team of US nuclear experts is preparing to depart for the North on Tuesday to create a plan for future teams to begin disabling the North’s Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

 

North Korea pledged last week to disable its main nuclear facilities and declare all its programmes by the end of this year under a deal reached during six-party talks with South Korea, Japan, the US, China and Russia.