NKorea vows to abide by deal to end nuke prog

Manila, July 29: North Korea's foreign minister, on a rare visit overseas by a senior Pyongyang official, today promised to abide by his country's commitment to end its nuclear weapons programme, a Philippine diplomat said.

Pak Ui Chun, who took office in May, told Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo that six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme were progressing well but gave no specific details. He also gave no timetable for disabling the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which is at the heart of the dispute.

During the meeting in Manila, Pak also expressed interest in working closely with the Philippines in three areas of cooperation, including energy and information technology, said Claro Cristobal, spokesman of the Philippine foreign affairs department.

Cristobal said Pak and Romulo discussed bilateral as well as regional and international issues, including developments on the Korean peninsula, which ''did occupy a good amount of discussion between the two sides''.

''He said that his country is committed to the agreement signed in February to move forward the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,'' Cristobal told reporters.

''Minister Pak did a briefing to the Philippine side on developments in the six-party talks. Minister Pak said that the six-party talks had been producing good progress.'' Pak is in Manila to also attend the ASEAN Regional Forum later this week. It is the biggest security meeting in the region and will bring together the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 17 dialogue partners, including the United States, Japan and China.

The Philippines has offered to host a meeting of officials from the six parties - the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas - involved in the Korean nuclear talks on the sidelines of the regional security forum.

But such a meeting is unlikely to take place in the absence of US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice. Rice has said she needs to travel to the Middle East and is sending her deputy to Manila instead.

Pak has however promised to ''cooperate in a manner that satisfies all the parties involved'', Cristobal said.

Pyongyang had shut down its Yongbyon reactor under a February agreement reached during the six-party talks on its nuclear weapons programme.

The latest round of nuclear talks ended this month without any target date for disabling the facilities.

Pak was due to meet with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo tomorrow and tour business park and cultural sites in Manila.

Reuters>