UN chief expects six-party talks to resume early
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Visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that he was deeply concerned about the situation on the Korean Peninsula and hoped the six-party talks would be resumed as soon as possible.
"The six party talks have made very good statement and declaration," the secretary-general said at a press conference late Tuesday, adding that the joint declaration must be implemented.
The six-party talks bring together China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea DPRK), the Republic of Korea (ROK), the United States, Japan and Russia. The talks over the DPRK's nuclear issues were launched in 2003 but stalled in April 2009 when Pyongyang pulled out of the talks in protest of UN condemnation of its missile tests.
The secretary-general said the situation on and around the Korean Peninsula suggested that we need to work even harder. Ban said he believed that the countries participating in the six-party talks had primary and crucial role to play to resume this dialogue and to engage DPRK into this dialogue.
He added that DPRK should fully comply with relevant Security Council resolution and joint declaration.
Ban arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday, to kick off a visit to the country. He is scheduled to attend the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. He will be the first UN chief to be present on such an occasion.
