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South Korea, North Korea jointly celebrate Liberation Day
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-15 09:40
NO URANIUM SCHEME
A South Korean woman has a baby in her's arms in front of the City Hall which was covered with 3,600 national flags to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Liberation Day from Japanese rule in Seoul, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005. [AP] |
But a crisis spurred by Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions remains unresolved, after four rounds of talks to end the North's nuclear programmes in return for aid and security guarantees.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon has said Seoul planned to hold discussions with visiting officials to help negotiate an agreement when the talks resume.
South and North Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China broke off talks in Beijing on August 7 after 15 days of negotiations. They will reconvene in the week of August 29 in the Chinese capital.
Pyongyang's top negotiator, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, said the North was willing to prove it did not have a uranium-based nuclear programme as Washington says.
"We don't have any uranium-based weapons programme, but in the future if there is any kind of evidence that needs to be clarified we will be fully prepared to do so," Kim was quoted as saying in a report by CNN from Pyongyang.
North Korean chief delegate Kim Ki-nam (L) waves with South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young before the opening ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in Seoul August 15, 2005. [Reuters] |
The existence of a uranium programme and the North's insistence on the right to a civilian nuclear power programme have been the most contentious issues at the six-party talks.
The North's number-two leader, Kim Yong-nam, said it was committed to the six-party process but was prepared to "smash the moves of the enemies to isolate and stifle the DPRK," referring to the United States. The North's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
His comments were carried by the North's official KCNA news agency on Sunday.
After the opening event, the two Koreas' national soccer teams played a friendly "unification game". The South won 3-0.
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