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South Korea, North Korea jointly celebrate Liberation Day
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-15 09:40 NO URANIUM SCHEME
A South Korean woman has a baby in her's arms
in front of the City Hall which was covered with 3,600 national flags to
commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Liberation Day from Japanese rule
in Seoul, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005. [AP] | But a
crisis spurred by Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions remains unresolved, after four
rounds of talks to end the North's nuclear programmes in return for aid and
security guarantees.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon has said Seoul planned to hold
discussions with visiting officials to help negotiate an agreement when the
talks resume.
South and North Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China broke off
talks in Beijing on August 7 after 15 days of negotiations. They will reconvene
in the week of August 29 in the Chinese capital.
Pyongyang's top negotiator, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, said the
North was willing to prove it did not have a uranium-based nuclear programme as
Washington says.
"We don't have any uranium-based weapons programme, but in the future if
there is any kind of evidence that needs to be clarified we will be fully
prepared to do so," Kim was quoted as saying in a report by CNN from Pyongyang.
![North Korean chief delegate Kim Ki-nam (L) waves with South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young before the opening ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in Seoul August 15, 2005. [Reuters]](xin_3508021513230122495414.jpg)
North Korean chief delegate Kim Ki-nam (L)
waves with South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young before the
opening ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the peninsula's
liberation from Japanese colonial rule in Seoul August 15, 2005.
[Reuters] | The existence of a uranium programme and the North's insistence on the right
to a civilian nuclear power programme have been the most contentious issues at
the six-party talks.
The North's number-two leader, Kim Yong-nam, said it was committed to the
six-party process but was prepared to "smash the moves of the enemies to isolate
and stifle the DPRK," referring to the United States. The North's official name
is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
His comments were carried by the North's official KCNA news agency on Sunday.
After the opening event, the two Koreas' national soccer teams played a
friendly "unification game". The South won 3-0.
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