Seoul sees peninsula nuke issue a long-term challenge

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea's top diplomat on Monday saw the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula as the biggest long-term challenge as it takes time to achieve the goal of a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.

The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue "remains the biggest challenge on our foreign affairs and security front and will continue to be so for many years to come," Kang Kyung-wha told a news conference with foreign correspondents in Seoul.

Her comments came after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea tested last week what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb warhead that can be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The sixth nuclear test was seen as the most powerful one conducted by Pyongyang, which tested its first nuclear device in 2006.

Kang said she viewed the nuclear issue as a long-term challenge as it would take long to denuclearize in a verifiable manner, reiterating Seoul's position that its eventual goal was to denuclearize the peninsula through complete dismantlement of the DPRK's nuclear program.

Though Pyongyang continued provocations, Kang said, Seoul will continue to work to achieve the denuclearization in a peaceful manner.

Seoul "will continue to work toward a peaceful achievement of the international community's common goal of a compete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization," Kang said.

"It will not be easy, but we are steadfast in moving in that direction with patience and perseverance," she added.

Asked about whether the severed inter-Korean dialogue channel had recovered, Kang said any official channel had yet to be restored, though she admitted she was limited to what she could say regarding the issue.

The government had offered holding military talks with the DPRK to defuse tensions near the military demarcation line separating the two neighbors as well as talks about the reunion of the families of the two sides, who have been separated since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Pyongyang has been mum about the dialogue proposals. All of inter-Korean communication lines, including military communications lines, have been severed following the DPRK's fourth nuclear test in January last year. It was trailed by its fifth nuclear detonation in September 2016.

She said situations changed following the DPRK's sixth nuclear test, which she described as a strategic, symbolic challenge. She said the DPRK's nuclear and missile threats must have been more serious than before with the nuclear detonation.

Meanwhile, she said Seoul joined hands with Washington and other UN Security Council members to adopt a new resolution heightening economic pressure on Pyongyang, over its latest nuclear test.

Xinhua

(China Daily 09/12/2017 page11)