UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomes recent statements on DPR of Korea's Nuclear Programme by United Nations News Service 11:33am 8th Jan, 2004   7 January – Hoping to spur a resumption of talks on the nuclear programme of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed recent statements by Pyongyang and the other countries involved in the issue.    A statement issued by a spokesman for the Secretary-General said Mr. Annan "feels that there is a growing momentum for the resumption of the six-party talks, thus advancing the Beijing process intended to resolve the nuclear and related issues in the Korean Peninsula."    In urging the parties to the talks to intensify their preparations, Mr. Annan "is encouraged by the recent statement by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as well as the response to it by the countries concerned," the statement said.    China, the DPRK, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States held a series of talks last year in Beijing on Pyongyang's nuclear programme. The DPRK withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) at the beginning of last year and has since been reported to have said it would develop nuclear weapons and might carry out tests.    January 08, 2004    "Powell warms to North Korea's offer" by Roy Eccleston, Washington correspondent. The Australian.    The Bush administration has given an unusually warm welcome to North Korea's latest offer to freeze its nuclear power and weapons programs, rekindling hopes that six-nation talks may soon resume to end the region's atomic standoff.    US Secretary of State Colin Powell described the bid from North Korea, believed by the US to have at least two nuclear weapons, as a "positive statement" and said he was "encouraged" by it.    Pyongyang's official news agency says the Stalinist regime "is set to refrain from test and production of nuclear weapons and stop even operating nuclear power industry for a peaceful purpose as first-phase measures of the package solution".    North Korea described the offer, which came as a private delegation of US congressional aides and former US officials visited the state, as a "bold concession".    In fact, the offer was mostly a repeat of comments last month in which North Korean officials demanded the US in return no longer call their country a terror state, and also provide economic aid.    But Mr Powell was this time receptive. "They in effect said they won't test, and they implied that they would give up all aspects of their nuclear program, not just weapons program," he said. "And it's an interesting step on their part, a positive step, and we hope that it will allow us to move more rapidly toward the six-party framework talks." Talks between North Korea, the US, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, were due to be held in December.    The US has previously rejected North Korean demands for a non-aggression pact, but has not ruled out an agreement that would allay Pyongyang's fear of attack in return for a complete, irreversible and verifiable end to its weapons programs...
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