The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) should enjoy the right to
the peaceful use of nuclear power, said Kim Kye-gwan, DPRK's chief negotiator to
the ongoing six-party Korean nuclear talks,in Beijing on Thursday.
Kim, also vice foreign minister of the DPRK, made the remarks outside the
DPRK embassy in China following a heads-of-delegation meeting of the talks on
Thursday evening.
Kim expressed dissatisfaction with the United States' opposition to the
DPRK's peaceful use of nuclear power.
"All countries in the world enjoy the right to make a peaceful use of nuclear
power," Kim said. "The DPRK is neither a defeated nation in a war nor a nation
having committed any crimes, so why should we not be allowed to use the nuclear
power peacefully?"
He said now all participating nations in the six-party talks except the
United States understand the position of the DPRK. He also expressed his belief
that the United States would also be persuaded in the end to support the DPRK to
make a peaceful use of nuclear power.
According to Kim, as differences remained in the political stances of the
DPRK and the United States, the current round of talks is now in sort of
stalemate in the drafting process of a common document.
He said so far various parties to the talks have failed to reach a consensus
on specific measures relating to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,
adding that the DPRK andthe United States are still unable to establish mutual
trust on the normalization of bilateral ties.
"This round of talks aims at realizing the denuclearization of the
peninsula," he said. "We will make every effort to help the talks achieve
progress, and the talks will continue."
The current round of the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear
issue, involving China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea,
Russia and Japan, will enter the 11th day on Friday.