North Korea urges South Korea to resume talks sooner

PYONGYANG, January 7 (Itar-Tass) -- North Korea's proposal to South
Korea to resume the negotiations without any preconditions as soon as
possible is "timely and correct taking into account a dangerous situation
on the Korean Peninsula," North Korean Deputy Prime Minister Kang Nung Sun
said in an article published in the leading North Korean newspaper Rodong
Sinmun. If North Korea and South Korea "make a wrong choice the Korean
nation may be dragged into a nuclear conflict instead of the Korean
reunification," he noted.
All most important problems in Korean relations "should be solved
through the dialogue and talks," Kang Nung Su believes. He also noted that
the development of the relations between North Korea and South Korea
depends from South Korea, "which should abandon the confrontation policy
towards North Korea and should not hamper the exchanges and contacts," he
emphasized.
The Rodong Sinmun also published the statements made by the top
officials of the Central Committee of the Korean Social Democratic Party,
the General Federation of Trade Unions and the Committee for Peaceful
Reunification of Korea that urge Seoul to take concrete efforts for
national reunification.
On January 5, North Korea proposed officially to South Korea to resume
immediately the talks in order to improve the relations between the Koreas
and a better situation on the Korean Peninsula. This proposal was approved
at a meeting of the North Korean government, political parties and
organizations in Pyongyang, the KCNA news agency reported.
-0-baz/usn