By KWANG-TAE KIM
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 12:37 AM
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea on Wednesday renewed a call for North Korea to seriously consider U.S. proposals before the communist nation returns to international talks on its nuclear weapons program.
The United States has offered security guarantees, a peace treaty and normalization of relations as well as removal of North Korea from Washington's list of states sponsoring terrorism if it dismantles its atomic weapons program, according to South Korean officials.
"I expect North Korea to come to the talks with realistic and positive proposals after seriously reviewing" the U.S. offers, Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said at a regular press conference following meetings last week with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
South Korea and the U.S. will consider taking active and positive steps if the North shows a positive attitude, Song said.
The North has yet to make any response to the U.S. proposals.
Song said it was difficult to predict when the next nuclear talks will occur, but said all the parties shared the need to hold meetings soon.
The nuclear issue will also be on the agenda for summit talks between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his Chinese and Japanese counterparts on Sunday on the sidelines of a regional Asian meeting in the Philippines, said Song.
North Korea returned to international talks on its nuclear arms program in Beijing last month _ the first since its Oct. 9 nuclear test _ but no progress was made on disarmament because of a dispute over U.S. financial restrictions imposed on the North over its alleged counterfeiting of $100 bills and money laundering.
The North has repeatedly urged the U.S. to lift the financial restrictions and unfreeze its assets worth some $24 million deposited at a Macau bank blacklisted by Washington.
The U.S. held separate financial talks on the sidelines of the nuclear talks but also made no progress. The two sides have provisionally agreed to hold the next financial talks the week of Jan. 22, according to Song.
