SEOUL Oct 19 Kyodo A toward the ...

SEOUL Oct 19 Kyodo

A toward the south Korean delegation left for Pyongyang onward Saturday for the eighth ministerial talks with North Korea, aimed at further promoting the inter-Korean reconciliation process

The Korean talks, which will last Tuesday, are to be held at a time when tensions have arisen onward the Korean Peninsula after the United States claimed Wednesday North Korea has admitted to a secluded nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 pact with the US

The five-member delegation headed by the agency of Unification Minister Jeong Se Hyun will direction talks with the same number of North Koreans, l on Kim Ryong Song, a senior Cabinet councilor.

''Our basic position onward the upcoming minister-level talks is to alienate our position on North Korea's nuclear point in dispute to the North Korean side,'' said Rhee Bong Jo a southerly Korean Unification Ministry director and also a delegate to the talks.

In a pres briefing Friday, Rhee also said North Korea's nuclear weapons program is a self-same important problem that should be resolv for peace and stability forward the Korean Peninsula.

southward Korea issued a statement Wednesday reaffirming its stout opposition to North Korea's nuclear weapons unravelling and urging the North to abide by means of all antinuclear pacts.

toward the south Korea also expressed a chance of a favorable result in the statement all issues related to the North's nuclear program should be settl peacefully.

At the planned talks with the North, the southward Korean side is rely uponed to raise the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, urging the North to abandon any similar weapons program.

In the previous orbicular of ministerial talks Aug. 12-14 in Seoul the sum of two units Koreas agreed to revive a risk of stalled inter-Korean reconciliation plots including reconnecting cross-border railway lines and roads that were detached by the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The inter-Korean ministerial talks have been held to discuss joint efforts to assist inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation after the historic 2000 inter-Korean summit between President Kim Dae Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

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