NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA: SOUTH KOREA VOICED "DEEP CONCERN AND DISAPPOINTMENT" AFTER NORTH KOREA'S WITHDRAWAL FROM THE NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY

Record ID: 645660

  • Title: NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA: SOUTH KOREA VOICED "DEEP CONCERN AND DISAPPOINTMENT" AFTER NORTH KOREA'S WITHDRAWAL FROM THE NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY
  • Date: 10th January 2003
  • Summary: (W3) SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JANUARY 10, 2002) (REUTERS) SV PROFESSOR LEE IN HIS OFFICE MCU (English) PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AT YONSEI UNIVERSITY LEE JUNG-HOON SAYING: "Finally, once and for all, North Korea may be headed towards becoming a nuclear state and I think this is a possibility that increasingly seems likely and this is something that we have to deal with of North Korea actually becoming a nuclear state." SV PROFESSOR LEE SV/CU/MCU OF STOCK MARKET (4 SHOTS) MCU (Korean) ANALYST AT DAESHIN SECURITIES KIM DONG-UK SAYING: "With the news of North Korea's withdrawal from NPYT around noon, the stock index has been dropped to 618 -- more than a 10 per cent drop." NPT NEWS ON TELEVISION LV/SLV OF ANTI- U.S. PROTEST NEAR U.S. ARMY HEADQUARTERS (2 SHOTS) MCU (Korean) PROTEST LEADER LEE SEUNG-HEON SAYING: "I think North Korea has taken a strong measure, maybe because the U.S. has put pressure on the North continuously." SV DEMONSTRATION Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th January 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
  • City:
  • Country: Korea, Democratic People's Republic of
  • Reuters ID: LVA67BVLFARMN99XBAXZ1H3L6GP1
  • Story Text: South Korea has convened an emergency session of its National Security Council in response to North Korea's withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
    South Korea voiced "deep concern and disappointment"
    on Friday (January 10) after North Korea's withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), saying the communist North's move was a threat to peace that must be reversed.
    "The government strongly warns of the danger of this move and calls on North Korea to repeal immediately its NPT withdrawal declaration and resolve this issue through dialogue," South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.
    "North Korea's declaration of a pullout from the NPT is a serious threat to peace and security on the Korean peninsula, and runs completely counter to the non-proliferation efforts and hopes of international society," it said.
    The South's statement followed an emergency session of South Korea's National Security Council convened after North Korea's declaration.
    South Korean television stations ran the pictures of North Korea's announcement on Pyongyang TV.
    North Korea said it had no intention of developing nuclear weapons and offered Washington a way out of the standoff.
    The reclusive communist state, which Washington has bracketed with Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil", made the announcement in a statement carried by its Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
    Accusing Washington of seeking to topple its political system, it also denounced the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as an American stooge and rejected the U.N.
    nuclear watchdog's call to readmit expelled inspectors.
    An expert on international relations in Seoul, Professor Lee Jung-Hoon said of the North Korean move:
    "Finally, once and for all, North Korea may be headed towards becoming a nuclear state and I think this is a possibility that increasingly seems likely and this is something that we have to deal with of North Korea actually becoming a nuclear state."
    South Korean shares fell for a fourth straight session to their lowest close this year on Friday after North Korea announced it was quitting the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
    The bellwether Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) .KS11> eased 0.32 per cent to end at 628.36, its weakest close since December 30.
    It retreated to 618.68 at one point after bouncing up to 644.48 in the morning, before the North's announcement.
    Not everyone in Seoul saw the North Korean move as ominous.
    At an anti-United demonstration outside the U.S. army headquarters in Seoul, protest leader Lee Seung-Heon said:
    "I think North Korea has taken a strong measure, maybe because the U.S. has put pressure on the North continuously."
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