CHINA: CHINESE AND SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENTS RESOLVE TO BRING NORTH KOREA INTO NEGOTIATIONS OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS ISSUE
Record ID:
442986
CHINA: CHINESE AND SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENTS RESOLVE TO BRING NORTH KOREA INTO NEGOTIATIONS OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS ISSUE
- Title: CHINA: CHINESE AND SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENTS RESOLVE TO BRING NORTH KOREA INTO NEGOTIATIONS OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS ISSUE
- Date: 7th July 2003
- Summary: (W5) BEIJING, CHINA (JULY 7, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF GIANT PORTRAIT OF MAO ZEDONG AND FLAGS OF SOUTH KOREA AND CHINA 0.07 2. WIDE OF MILITARY BAND IN FRONT OF GREAT HALL OF PEOPLE 0.10 3. SLV HU JINTAO AND ROH MOO-HYUN SHAKING HANDS 0.16 4. WIDE OF GUARD OF HONOUR 0.21 5. WIDE OF HU AND ROH STANDING AND LISTENING TO NATIONAL ANTHEM 0.27 6. WIDE OF CANONS FIRING OFFICAL SALUTE 0.32 7. SMV TWO LEADERS STANDING 0.38 8. SLV HU AND ROH WALKING DOWN RED CARPET REVIEWING GUARD 0.59 9. WIDE OF MEETING ROOM 1.05 10. WIDE OF SOUTH KOREAN DELEGATION 1.11 11. SCU HU SPEAKING 1.17 12. WIDE OF MEETING 1.23 13. SMV HU JINTAO IN MEETING 1.30 14. WIDE OF LEADERS ENTERING ROOM FOR SIGNING CEREMONY 1.36 15. SLV BOTH LEADERS STANDING 1.43 16. WIDE OF JOURNALISTS 1.49 17. VARIOUS OF OFFICIALS SIGNING AGREEMENT 2.01 18. VARIOUS OF OFFICIALS SHAKING HANDS AND EXCHANGING DOCUMENTS 2.09 19. VARIOUS OF LEADERS TOASTING EACH OTHER 2.23 20. WIDE OF HU AND ROH SEATED FOR PRESS BRIEFING 2.27 21. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) ROH SAYING: "President Hu Jintao and I have reached a very concrete agreement to make efforts for the early resumption of direct talks among concerned parties in the North Korean nuclear issue" 2.51 22. SLV SOUTH KOREAN AND CHINESE FLAGS 2.57 23. WIDE OF HU AND ROH SEATED AT BRIEFING 3.03 24. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) HU SAYING: "I believe we should seriously consider and attempt to resolve North Korea's concerns for its own safety" 3,14 25. WIDE OF JOURNALISTS 3.19 26. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) HU SAYING: "We should follow the principle (of peaceful dialogue) and work together to conduct talks in a timely fashion in order to increase communication, so that mutual trust and respect can be increased, actively work towards resolving contradiction in breaking the impasse, and I believe this is the most effective way in resolving the issue." 3.50 27. WIDE OF BRIEFING 3.55 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 22nd July 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA 1
- Country: China
- Reuters ID: LVA7X24UU1YN6TO9MJ86IO5LNT42
- Story Text: The leaders of China and South Korea have vowed to
work to bring reclusive North Korea to the negotiating table
to peacefully resolve a deepening crisis over the communist
North's nuclear weapons programmes.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday (July 7)
met with Chinese President Hu Jintao at Beijing's Great Hall
of the People.
Roh's four-day China tour, which follows trips to the
United States and Japan, aims to enlist Beijing's help to
solve the crisis.
After a welcoming ceremony, Roh attended the signing of
bilateral technical agreements on civil and commercial law,
industrial standards and scientific exchanges designed to
boost trade and investment.
Two-way trade between Seoul and Beijing increased
eight-fold to $40 billion in the decade since they normalised
diplomatic relations in 1992. Trade is up 44 percent in the
first five months of this year compared to
2002, Chinese data shows.
Roh and Hu then headed into private talks on North Korea's
nuclear ambitions.
South Korea wants China to use its close relationship with
the North to coax Pyongyang into multilateral talks to resolve
the nuclear dispute.
China's army rescued fellow communist North Korea in the
1950-53 war with U.S.-backed South Korea. Beijing long
described its Pyongyang ties as "as close as lips and teeth",
but China's market reforms have made it a close trade partner
of Seoul.
Beijing keeps its struggling neighbour afloat, providing
between 70 and 90 percent of North Korea's oil and more than a
third of its imports and food aid. China is also the reluctant
host to as many as 300,000 refugees
from North Korea.
Following their summit talks, the two leaders said it was
important to maintain the momentum of diplomacy to keep the
Korean peninsula peaceful, stable and nuclear-free.
"President Hu Jintao and I have reached a very concrete
agreement to make efforts for the early resumption of direct
talks among concerned parties in the North Korean nuclear
issue," Roh told a joint news conference. He did not refer to
specific parties.
Neither leader specified the timing or format for any
future talks to follow up on an initial meeting between China,
North Korea and the United States in April.
Washington has pressed the North to agree to expand future
talks to include South Korea and Japan, but Pyongyang wants
two-way talks with the United States.
Hu said China opposed nuclear weapons on the Korean
peninsula, but urged that Pyongyang's security concerns should
be addressed.
"I believe we should seriously consider and attempt to
resolve North Korea's concerns for its own safety," he said.
North Korea has long insisted its nuclear arms programme
is a justified self-defence measure against threats of attack
from a hostile United States.
Hu added Beijing firmly backed diplomacy to halt the
North's nuclear ambitions. "We should follow the principle
(of peaceful dialogue) and work together to conduct talks in a
timely fashion in order to increase communication, so that
mutual trust and respect can be increased, and actively work
towards resolving contradiction and breaking the impasse. I
believe this is the most effective way in resolving the
issue," he said.
Alarmed that a deterioration in the crisis could invite
unilateral moves by the United States, Beijing has sent senior
diplomats to Washington and Moscow and stepped up contacts
with North Korea, Western diplomats in Beijing said.
The second nuclear dispute involving North Korea in a
decade erupted last October when U.S. officials said the North
had admitted running a covert atomic arms programme.
North Korea has since quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty, said it had atomic bombs and threatened to start
making more nuclear weapons.
Roh meets Premier Wen Jiabao (pron: when djia bao) and
other senior leaders on
Tuesday (July 8) and completes his first China trip with a
2-day-visit to Shanghai.
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