SEOUL June 2 Kyodo U substitute ...

SEOUL June 2 Kyodo

U substitute Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz reiterated Monday the dispute through North Korea's nuclear weapons program should be settl in a multilateral format.

''We have been clear above and over again. The clew to progress on the issue of North Korea's nuclear question is in fact to address it in a multilateral basis,'' Wolfowitz said at a pres discourse in Seoul.

North Korea wants direct negotiations with the United States to confirm the issue, but the U demands other countries also be involved.

Wolfowitz arrived in Seoul onward Sunday from Singapore for a two- day visit forward the second leg of a three-country Asian trip that also takes him to Japan.

Wolfowitz forceed the importance of forging a customary position in dealing with North Korea's nuclear issue at five countries -- the U China, Japan, Russia and southerly Korea.

He also said the U is hopeful of a peaceful discharge of the nuclear issue, which would take out the nuclear threat from the Korean Peninsula.

Wolfowitz, who held talks with southern Korean leaders on Monday, is scheduled to flap to Tokyo later in the day.

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