Lee Soo-hyuck, head of the Republic of Korea (ROK) delegation to
the six-party talks, said in Beijing Wednesday that the ROK side
was in a determined mind to fulfill the task of solving the Korean
nuclear issue.?
At the opening ceremony of the third round of the six-party
talks, Lee called for the concerned parties to eliminate distrust
and narrow differences and make progress in building a nuclear
weapon-free Korean peninsula.
He said the ROK has sensed the strong wills of concerned parties
to achieve a nuclear weapon-free status on the Korean peninsula
through various means, and the ROK side hoped the third round of
six-party talks could bear positive fruits.
"After two rounds of working group meetings and bilateral
consultations between relevant parties, we feel our task is
important and challenging, and we believe that a determined mind
could fulfill the task," Lee noted.
ROK President Roh Moo-hyun once said, according to Lee, the
solution of the Korean peninsula nuclear issue could help the ROK
and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to make
full-ranging progress on establishing bilateral cooperation.
He expressed the wish that the solution of the issue would help
create a permanent foundation for peace on the Korean peninsula and
achieve the common prosperity of the ROK and the DPRK.
Lee expressed appreciation to China for hosting the six-party
talks in Beijing.
Lee also strongly condemned terrorism after a ROK citizen was
killed in Iraq, expressing his thanks to the delegation heads for
their condolences on the tragedy.
(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2004)