Pyongyang presses for peace treaty

July 23, 2005

Beijing: A peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War is needed to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula, North Korea said yesterday.

The announcement, made by the Korean Central News Agency and also reported in the official Chinese news media, comes as the six-nation talks to defuse the nuclear crisis are scheduled to resume on Tuesday in Beijing.

An unidentified spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry yesterday said a formal peace treaty with the US would "give a strong impetus" to the new round of negotiations. Chinese media also reported that North Korea is willing to resolve the crisis over its nuclear programs and normalising relations with Washington was central to a deal.

"Not a single nuclear weapon will be needed for us if the US nuclear threat is removed and its hostile policy of 'bringing down the DPRK's system' is withdrawn," the Xinhua news agency quoted the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying. Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the country's official name.

The main countries involved in the Korean War - the US, China and North and South Korea - last held talks on a peace treaty in Geneva in late 1997 and 1998.

The announcement suggests that North Korea intends to make a peace settlement and normalisation of relations the main thrust of the negotiations in Beijing.

North Korea has raised similar demands for a treaty in the past. Pyongyang has long said it needs nuclear weapons because the US refuses to drop "its hostile policy" towards it, including a substantial military presence in the South.

The New York Times, Reuters
