S.Korea, Russia reject nuclear power status of DPRK
The two leaders said in a joint statement after holding talks at Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae that Pyongyang's stand-alone path to build up nuclear and missile capabilities was unacceptable, stressing that the DPRK cannot hold the position as a nuclear power.
Putin arrived in Seoul earlier Wednesday to hold his second summit with Park. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in September in Russia's second-largest city of Saint Petersburg.
The joint communique said that the DPRK should live up to international obligations and promises, including the Sept. 19, 2005 Joint Statement, noting that participants of the long-stalled six-party talks would make joint efforts to resume the aid-for- denuclearization dialogue.
The six-way talks, including South Korea, DPRK, China, Russia, the United States and Japan, has been suspended since the last one was held in late 2008. The DPRK walked out of the talks in April 2009 in protest against fresh UN sanctions, but it recently expressed wish to return to the negotiating table.
The two Koreas declared in 1991 to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and it was reconfirmed in the Sept. 19 Joint Statement at the six-party talks.
But Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket in December 2012 and conducted its third nuclear test in February, raising concerns over the effect of the six-way talks.
