WORLD> Asia-Pacific
DPRK to withdraw from six-party talks
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-14 12:50

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Tuesday it will withdraw from the six-party talks and restore the nuclear facilities that have been under disablement process.

The DPRK will not fulfill any agreement reached in the nuclear talks any more, a spokesman from the DPRK foreign ministry said in a statement, in response to a UN Security Council presidential statement on its rocket launch.

DPRK to withdraw from six-party talks
A South Korean soldier watches a TV news report on DPRK's rocket launch, at a railway station in Seoul April 5, 2009. DPRK said on Tuesday it will withdraw from the six-party talks. [Xinhua]

He said that the DPRK will bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defence purpose.

He also said that the DPRK will begin to restore the nuclear facilities that have been under disablement process, in a bid to operate those facilities normally again.

The DPRK will restart the reprocessing of the spent fuel rods, he added.

The new move was an obvious response to the presidential statement adopted by UN Security Council on DPRK's recent rocket launch, saying it was "in contravention of Security Council resolution 1718" and demanding the country "not conduct any further launch."

Full Coverage:
DPRK to withdraw from six-party talksDPRK Rocket Launch

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The six-party talks, a platform designed to engage the DPRK, South Korea, the United States, Russia, Japan and China in talks on the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, was first held in Beijing in August, 2003, and has made tangible progress on the issue in the following years.

The DPRK destroyed the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex June last year, marking a symbolic step forward towards the goal.

The DPRK warned last month that any action of the United Nations against its "satellite launch" would ruin the six-party talks.

Shortly after Pyongyang's declaration, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it could "only regret" Pyongyang's decision to quit the six-party talks.

"This decision will obviously not help achieve the goals we set to ourselves in the settlement of problems of the Korean Peninsula," according to the ministry's information and press department.

"We can only express our regret at the decision of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and urge it not to halt six-party talks on the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula," a foreign ministry official said.

South Korea said Tuesday that it will deal calmly with the DPRK's stronger-than-expected response.

The South Korean government will "take a calm manner" in dealing with the DPRK's "threats," a South Korean foreign ministry official was quoted.

China disapproves of new sanction, opposes new resolution on DPRK

China has said it disapproves of the United Nations adopting any new resolution on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) rocket launch, and is opposed to any new sanction against the DPRK, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing on Tuesday.

China maintains that the reaction from the Security Council should be conducive to safeguarding peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia, and conducive to the six-party talks and also to the process of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, and it should also be conducive to safeguarding the international non-proliferation regime, Jiang said.

China has noticed the DPRK's announcement of its satellite launch on April 5 local time and other countries' concern over it. The UN Security Council had just passed a presidential statement as a response, calling relevant parties for fulfillment of resolution 1718, she said.

Jiang said China hopes relevant parties would view the overall situation and long-term development, keep calm and show restraint, jointly safeguard peace and stability in the region and promote the process of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

Jiang said this accords with the interest of the international community and those countries involved.