HANOI, July 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Thursday rejected North Korea's demand to lift sanctions and urged the communist nation to take sincere denuclearization steps if it wants to resume international nuclear talks.
A North Korea diplomat, Ri Tong-il, told reporters earlier in the day that Pyongyang is willing to rejoin the stalled six-party talks, but sanctions on the country should be first lifted so that all participants in the negotiations will be on an "equal footing."
Ri, spokesman for the North's delegation to a regional security forum in Hanoi, also accused the South and the United States of posing "grave" threats to regional peace with large-scale joint naval exercises and fresh sanctions targeting Pyongyang.
"We cannot agree to this," Yu said of the North's demand for lifting sanctions as he arrived in Hanoi for this year's meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Asia's largest annual security conference. "North Korea must show genuine willingness and make progress in denuclearization before the six-party talks can take place."
Yu also rejected accusations by the North Korean diplomat that planned joint naval exercises between South Korea and the U.S., as well as Washington's additional sanctions on Pyongyang, violate a recent U.N. statement on the sinking of a South Korean ship. The statement calls for peaceful settlement of outstanding issues.
"The additional sanctions are in accordance with the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874" adopted last year after the North's second nuclear test, Yu said. "The recent Security Council statement also stressed the importance of preventing the North's further hostilities."
In his bilateral meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada later in the day, Yu stressed the need to maintain pressure on North Korea, according to South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun.
"The minister emphasized that now is not the time to discuss 'exit strategies' when North Korea hasn't changed at all," Kim said. "He said the pressure must remain on North Korea so that it can't buy time to challenge the international community."
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Washington will slap a set of fresh sanctions on North Korea to press the regime to give up nuclear programs and to warn against further provocations after the deadly sinking of the warship Cheonan in March.
North Korea has been making conciliatory moves following a relatively mild rebuke over the sinking that left 46 sailors dead, expressing its willingness to return to the six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S.
Seoul has rejected the overtures as an attempt to duck responsibility for the ship attack.
In talks with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) later Thursday, Yu discussed promoting investment and trade between Seoul and ASEAN member states. The ministers agreed to raise the status of their relationship to a "strategic partnership" by the ASEAN+3 Summit here in November. The ASEAN+3 includes the 10 ASEAN members plus South Korea, China and Japan.
Yu thanked ASEAN ministers for their support of the South Korean position on the Cheonan sinking. The ASEAN foreign ministers issued a joint statement Wednesday expressing their support for the Security Council statement, saying they also "deplore" the attack that took 46 lives.
The ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
A North Korea diplomat, Ri Tong-il, told reporters earlier in the day that Pyongyang is willing to rejoin the stalled six-party talks, but sanctions on the country should be first lifted so that all participants in the negotiations will be on an "equal footing."
Ri, spokesman for the North's delegation to a regional security forum in Hanoi, also accused the South and the United States of posing "grave" threats to regional peace with large-scale joint naval exercises and fresh sanctions targeting Pyongyang.
"We cannot agree to this," Yu said of the North's demand for lifting sanctions as he arrived in Hanoi for this year's meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Asia's largest annual security conference. "North Korea must show genuine willingness and make progress in denuclearization before the six-party talks can take place."
Yu also rejected accusations by the North Korean diplomat that planned joint naval exercises between South Korea and the U.S., as well as Washington's additional sanctions on Pyongyang, violate a recent U.N. statement on the sinking of a South Korean ship. The statement calls for peaceful settlement of outstanding issues.
"The additional sanctions are in accordance with the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874" adopted last year after the North's second nuclear test, Yu said. "The recent Security Council statement also stressed the importance of preventing the North's further hostilities."
In his bilateral meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada later in the day, Yu stressed the need to maintain pressure on North Korea, according to South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun.
"The minister emphasized that now is not the time to discuss 'exit strategies' when North Korea hasn't changed at all," Kim said. "He said the pressure must remain on North Korea so that it can't buy time to challenge the international community."
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Washington will slap a set of fresh sanctions on North Korea to press the regime to give up nuclear programs and to warn against further provocations after the deadly sinking of the warship Cheonan in March.
North Korea has been making conciliatory moves following a relatively mild rebuke over the sinking that left 46 sailors dead, expressing its willingness to return to the six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S.
Seoul has rejected the overtures as an attempt to duck responsibility for the ship attack.
In talks with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) later Thursday, Yu discussed promoting investment and trade between Seoul and ASEAN member states. The ministers agreed to raise the status of their relationship to a "strategic partnership" by the ASEAN+3 Summit here in November. The ASEAN+3 includes the 10 ASEAN members plus South Korea, China and Japan.
Yu thanked ASEAN ministers for their support of the South Korean position on the Cheonan sinking. The ASEAN foreign ministers issued a joint statement Wednesday expressing their support for the Security Council statement, saying they also "deplore" the attack that took 46 lives.
The ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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