S. Korea urges US to consider normalizing N. Korean ties
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-16 13:41

The United States should consider normalizing relations with North Korea as part of the resolution of the nuclear arms dispute, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said on Thursday.

As talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programs hit a deadlock in Beijing, Roh told a New York audience he was both "optimistic" about ending the impasse and "very nervous" about a crisis that has hung over the Korean peninsula since 2002.

"Any settlement that purports to be fundamental needs to embrace the normalization of relations between the U.S. and North Korea," he said of the nuclear negotiations.

"Serious consideration must be given to the normalization of U.S.-DPRK relations," Roh told the Korea Society. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

As nuclear talks involving North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China appeared stalled on their third day, Roh said, "I am optimistic about their ultimate results notwithstanding some turbulence."

The United States has held out the prospect of normalizing diplomatic ties with North Korea once Pyongyang dismantles all nuclear arms programs, including a plutonium program that U.S. intelligence estimates has already produced enough bomb-grade plutonium fuel to make nine or more nuclear weapons.

Roh vowed Seoul would play a "vigorous and productive" role in solving the nuclear dispute but said he gave Washington the "lion's share of credit" for moving the issue to the negotiating table. He also said the North was trying to help.

"North Korea has been using the available opportunities to express its willingness to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and join the family of nations," said Roh, who is in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly summit.

The 59-year-old Roh, famed for making unscripted remarks, said that despite his professed optimism about the nuclear dispute, "I have to confess that inside I feel very nervous."

"Each time I think about the North Korean nuclear weapons issue, I pray to God, and I ask you to do the same," he told some 850 business leaders, scholars and diplomats.

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