Following his return from a May 3-7 visit to the People’s Republic of China, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il affirmed his government’s willingness to respect his hosts’ desires and resume participation in the Six-Party Talks on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula at an appropriate time. The talks have remained suspended following an upsurge in tensions last April, when the UN Security Council imposed additional sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea after North Korea launched a ballistic missile under the guise of testing space rockets. Pyongyang responded defiantly by withdrawing from the talks and then testing another nuclear weapon, the second following its initial test in October 2006, in contravention of previous UN resolutions.
According to the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim ‘expressed the DPRK’s willingness to provide favourable conditions for the resumption of the Six-party talks.’ He also said that his government ‘remains unchanged in its basic stand to preserve the aim of denuclearising the Korean peninsula, implement the joint statement adopted at the Six-party talks and pursue a peaceful solution through dialogue.’ The KCNA report, issued on May 8, resembles statements that appeared the previous day in the Chinese government media, which only confirmed Kim’s visit after he had left. ‘The North Korea side stated that its stance in favour of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has not changed,’ the government-run Xinhua news agency related on May 7. ‘The North Korean side is willing, together with all parties, to discuss creating favourable conditions for restarting the Six-party talks.’
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