South Korea Tuesday urged all parties concerned to concentrate on trying to realize the target of building a nuclear-weapons-free Korean Peninsula.??

"It is not ideal for the parties concerned to distract from this target during the new round of the six-party talks," said Song Min-soon, head of the South Korean delegation and deputy foreign minister, at the opening ceremony of the fourth round of the talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

 

Analysts noted Song might be referring to Japan's plan to put forward the abduction issue during the talks.

 

Song described the talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue as a framework to promote the realization of a nuclear-weapons-free Korean Peninsula, saying that all the parties concerned should take care of each other's stance and respect each other's interests during the talks.

 

South Korea had proposed previously that if North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program, the South would be ready to "provide 2 million kilowatt-hour of electricity annually" to the North by building a cross inter-Korean border power line.

 

"This proposal could become the key to resolve the nuclear issue," said Song.

 

South Korea hoped the North would give up its nuclear program, and the other countries concerned would make definite promise to realize normalization of bilateral relations with North Korea and provide security guarantee to it," Song said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2005)