‘North willing to denuclearise’
SEOUL: North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States on denuclearisation and will suspend nuclear tests while those talks are under way, the South said yesterday after a delegation returned from the North, where it met leader Kim Jong-un.
North and South Korea, technically at war but enjoying a sharp easing in tension since the Winter Olympics last month, will also hold their first summit in more than a decade next month at the border village of Panmunjom, said the head of the delegation, Chung Eui-yong.
“North Korea made clear its willingness to denuclearise the Korean peninsula, and the fact there is no reason for it to have a nuclear programme if military threats against the North are resolved and its regime is secure.”
He also cited the North as saying it would not carry out nuclear or missile tests while talks with the US were under way. North Korea has not carried out any such tests since November.