North Korean Foreign Minister to arrive in Moscow for nuclear talks

Moscow, Oct 14 (UNI) North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun will arrive here tomorrow on an official visit, to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

North Korea's denuclearisation and security measures in Northeast Asia would be discussed at talks between the Russian and North Korean Foreign Ministers, Russia's Foreign Ministry said today.

''The Moscow talks will discuss the situation in the Asia-Pacific region. Special attention will be paid to the situation in Northeast Asia, in particular progress in the six-party talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula,'' the official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Nesterenko said.

The six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear programme, launched in 2003, involve Russia, the United States, North and South Korea, China and Japan.

Meanwhile, North Korean Ambassador to Moscow Kim Yong-jae has said North Korea will fulfill its obligations to denuclearise, reiterating his country's approval of its removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

North Korea said on Sunday it would readmit UN inspectors and resume the disablement of its plutonium-producing nuclear plants after the United States removed it from the blacklist on Saturday after 20 years and nine months.

''We welcome the US move and will honour our obligations,'' RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kim as saying.

He said Pyongyang expected all other parties to the six-way negotiations.

''It is in our common interests to free the Korean Peninsula of all nuclear weapons," he said.

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