Text Fwd: N. Korean premier expresses intent on multilateral nuke talks: KCNA

Yonhap News
2009/10/05 03:12 KST
N. Korean premier expresses intent on multilateral nuke talks: KCNA

SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korean Prime Minister Kim Yong-il expressed on Sunday North Korea's willingness to denuclearize through both bilateral and multilateral negotiations.

In a meeting with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Mansudae Assembly Hall, Kim "expressed the will to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the behest of President Kim Il-sung, through bilateral and multilateral dialogues," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

Wen flew to Pyongyang Sunday and was greeted by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il at Sunan Airport in a rare gala treatment for a non-state head amid hopes for the visit, the first in 18 years by a Chinese prime minister, to produce a breakthrough in six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions.

Pyongyang has boycotted the multilateral talks hosted by China since 2003, citing U.N. sanctions for the North's nuclear and missile tests earlier this year.

U.S. officials have said they are awaiting the outcome of Wen's Pyongyang visit before deciding on whether to send Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, to the North Korean capital to persuade the North to come back to the six-party talks.

Kim Jong-il also told a senior Chinese official, Dai Bingguo, in Pyongyang last month that he was ready to discuss the North's nuclear programs through bilateral and multilateral talks, although South Korean and U.S. officials said they were not certain what the multilateral talks Kim mentioned actually means.