Ministers from North, South Meet before Six-Party Talks

Song Min-soon, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Kim Kye Kwan, North Korea`s vice foreign minister, held a preliminary meeting in Beijing, China, on July 24, two days before the start of the fourth round of six-party-talks.

Deputy Minister Song said, “The two Koreas agreed on the idea of having a framework to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula,” adding, “It was decided that this kind of negotiation would continue during the talks.”

He added, “Many issues were negotiated which may be brought up in the six-party talks, but I will not mention their details.”

Deputy Minister Song said on the media coverage of Japan that three nations, namely Korea, the U.S., and Japan, decided to come up with a joint suggestion at the six-party talks, “It is feasible, but nothing has been specified yet.”

Yoo-Seong Hwang yshwang@donga.com