SOUTH KOREA: UNITED STATES RULES OUT POSSIBILITY OF ACCEPTING NORTH KOREA'S PRECONDITIONS FOR PROPOSED FOUR-NATION TALKS

Record ID: 337579

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: UNITED STATES RULES OUT POSSIBILITY OF ACCEPTING NORTH KOREA'S PRECONDITIONS FOR PROPOSED FOUR-NATION TALKS
  • Date: 15th May 1996
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (MAY 15, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV SOUTH KOREA'S UNIFICATION MINISTER KWON O-KIE, SHAKING HANDS WITH U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE WINSTON LORD AND U.S. DELEGATES (2 SHOTS) 0.16 2. SLV/SV KWON AND LORD HAVING SEATS AND LORD TALKING (2 SHOTS) 0.26 3. SV/SLV KWON LISTENING AND LORD SPEAKING 0.34 4. SV C
  • Embargoed: 30th May 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
  • City:
  • Country: South Korea
  • Reuters ID: LVADUKS630WHL0K7C5VF8ED8DINJ
  • Story Text: INTRO: The United States ruled out any preconditions to four-nation talks to secure peace on the Korean peninsula.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------- The United States on Wednesday (May 15) ruled out any preconditions North Korea might attach to proposed four-nation talks to secure peace on the Korean Peninsula.

    "We put forward this proposal without preconditions. So in our view, since there is no precondition on our side then, there should be no preconditions on their side," assistant U.S. Secretary of State Winston Lord told a news conference in Seoul.

    "Clearly if we get into the talks, then issues like economic cooperation (with North Korea) and sanctions could be discussed, but we would have to get into the talks." Earlier he held talks with South Korea's Unification Minister Kwon O-kie on Wednesday.

    Lord headed U.S. delegates in this week's talks with Seoul and Tokyo in the South Korean island of Cheju to discuss North Korean issues.

    After a two-day meeting, the United States, Japan and South Korea agreed there would be no immediate food aid for North Korea, which is reported to be suffering a serious food shortage.

    Devastating floods destroyed crops in the North last year and left 100,000 families homeless. The United Nations has said North Korea's food crisis is likely to worsen in the near future.

    U.S. President Bill Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young-sam last month proposed four-party talks with North Korea and China to hammer out a peace treaty to replace the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

    The secretive North has not yet given a reply to the talks proposal but has asked for more details.

    Analysts in South Korea said on Wednesday the move to rule out food aid for North Korea would not be enough to push Pyongyang into mending ties with the South.


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