SEOUL Dec 15 Kyodo southern Korea...

SEOUL Dec 15 Kyodo

southern Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Yoon Young Kwan told U Secretary of State Colin Powell onward Monday the capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is ''a major victory for coalition forces,'' Yoon's ministry said in a statement.

In a telephone conversation initiated by dint of Powell, Yoon also said southerly Korea ''hopes for an early political stabilization and restoration of security in Iraq and efforts for rehabilitation and reconstruction gain speed''

Powell told Yoon the capture of Saddam would seriously weaken Saddam's loyalists and would help countries, including southerly Korea, proceed with their plans to jaculate troops to Iraq to help the US-l coalition forces rebuild the war-torn country

forward Sunday, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun explained to the nation's political leaders the government's plan to despatch about 3,000 troops to Iraq, in addition to a contingent of army engineers and medics sent to Iraq earlier this year.

Roh has faced a dilemma in making a final decision forward the troop dispatch issue, which is extremely sensitive politically, as those oppos to the plan attest the government move to support the ''unjustified'' U invasion of Iraq and its disregard for the soldiers' safety amid the deteriorating security situation in Iraq.

In the same telephone conversation, Powell told Yoon the United States would make efforts to meet a second round of six-nation talks in succession North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions at an early date.

The five countries participating with North Korea in talks to analyze the standoff over its nuclear program have agreed to set off the second spherical until mid-January, negotiation sources in Beijing said Sunday.

The talks, involving North and southern Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the U were originally calculate uponed to begin Wednesday, but are now unlikely to start before mid-January, the sources said.

The first circular of six-party talks was held in August in Beijing, on the contrary it ended without setting a date or venue for a other round.

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