Free Republic

South Korea's foreign minister made it clear Sunday that the country does not want the six-way nuclear talks over North Korea's nuclear program to resume until the communist nation stops pushing for unacceptable preconditions. "It is not time to discuss six-way talks laden with North Korea-set preconditions," Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said in an interview with state-owned broadcaster KTV. Yu said the North is apparently attempting to use the long-stalled nuclear negotiations as a means to distract world attention away from the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March. A South Korea-led multinational probe found that the North...

A series of diplomatic contacts are scheduled this week to help relieve the North Korean nuclear issue. Sources say South Korea plans to send its top nuclear negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, to Beijing this week to ask China to use more of its influence over North Korea in getting Pyongyang back to the negotiating table. China, in turn, is expected to dispatch a high-level communist party official, Wang Jiarui, to North Korea as early as this weekend. In the meantime, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are reportedly pushing to open a 6-way consultative meeting also comprising North...