Korea Push For Multilateral Meeting on Nuclear Issue

President Roh Moo-hyun and New Zealand Premier Helen Clark agreed to keep up a close cooperation between the two countries to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff in a peaceful way in their one hour-long summit at the Presidential Blue House on July 25th.

President Roh told the Premier about his telephone call with the U.S. President George W. Bush on the previous day. President Roh said, “The nuclear issue will be resolved peacefully. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the New Zealand ambassador to Korea for his utmost efforts to dissuade North Korea from developing nuclear programs by personally visiting the country.”

The Premier said in response, “North Korea`s nuclear program should be abandoned right away and we would support the efforts that Korea, America and Japan have shown to relieve the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula.” He added, “I expect that South Korea will soon participate in a multilateral meeting to resolve the situation. I promise that New Zealand will do everything it can to help South Korea out.”

President Roh proposed expanding youth exchange programs between the two countries while the Premier replied that he would continue to expand the current “Working Holiday Program” for young people. They also talked about how to cooperate on the movie industries between Busan and Oakland.

Premier Clark proposed to have a multilateral FTA agreement with South Korea participated by Singapore and Chile, but President Roh shelved the proposal saying, “In Korea, the agricultural trade is a very sensitive issue. So we need more time.”

The Premier visited South Korea to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Korean War in which New Zealand was one of the alliances. He visited the U.N Cemetery in Busan on July 26th and will attend the commemoration event hosted by the U.S. Headquarters on July 27th. He will leave the country on July 28th.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com