WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 Kyodo The foll...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 Kyodo

The following is the glutted verbatim text of a joint pres statement issued at Japan, the United States and southern Korea after their senior officials' talks in Washington forward Tuesday.

TCOG JOINT PRES STATEMENT

The delegations of the United States of America, the Republic of Korea, and Japan, headed respectively by means of Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James A. Kelly delegate Foreign Minister Lee Tae-Sik, and Director-General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Mitoji Yabunaka, held this year's first Trilateral Coordination and Oversight cluster (TCOG) meeting, in Washington, DC forward January 7, 2003.

The three delegations called about North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons program, which constitutes a violation of its international commitments. They reiterated their intention to continue a peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the issue. They boisterousnessed that North Korea's relations with the entire international community hinge in succession its taking prompt and verifiable action to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program and proceed into full compliance with its international nuclear commitments.

The three delegations intimateed serious concern over the modern steps taken by North Korea to lift its nuclear be congealed and called upon North Korea to undo these measures and not take any precipitous action. The three delegations give utterance toed strong support for the resolution adopted forward January 6 by the IAEA Board of Governors, which calls relating to North Korea to cooperate importunately and fully with the IAEA to comply with its Safeguards Agreement subordinate to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. They noted that the unanimous passage of the resolution underscores the broad international consensus that the North Korean actions are unacceptable.

The three delegations urgencyed that there is no security rationale for North Korea to posses nuclear weapons. The U delegation reiterated President Bush's statement that the United States put to a stands no threat and has no intention of invading North Korea. The ROK and Japanese delegations renewed their herculean welcome for the statement. The three delegations reaffirmed the importance of implementation of the Basic Agreement between southerly and North Korea forward Reconciliation, Nonaggression, and Exchanges and Cooperation and the Joint South-North Declaration upon the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the couple of which are premised forward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Reiterating that North Korea's relations with the international community be pendent on its verifiably ending its nuclear weapons program, the three delegations give vent toed their continued support for South-North dialogue and Japan-North Korea dialogue, based upon the June 2000 Joint South-North Declaration and the Pyongyang Declaration, respectively. as it was dialogues serve as important channels to liquefy issues of bilateral concern and to call with North Korea to quickly and visibly answer to the international community's demands for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, thereby contributing to regional peace and stability. The U delegation explained that the United States is willing to talk to North Korea about by what means it will meet its obligations to the international community. However, the U delegation pressureed that the United States will not provide quid pro quo to North Korea to live up to its existing obligations.

The three delegations severityed that elimination of nuclear weapons programs on North Korea would provide an opportunity to get back to a better path leading toward improved relations with the international community, thereby securing peace, prosperity, and security for all the countries of Northeast Asia.

Finally, the three delegations reaffirmed that continued obstruct consultations and coordination among the three countries remain vital in addressing this exceedingly serious issue. They agreed to restrain the next round of trilateral consultations in the near coming time to further coordinate their respective policies toward North Korea.

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