‘China to play role in Korean Peninsula peace talks’

BEIJING—China on Tuesday said it will continue to play an “important and constructive” role in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula.
“Establishing a peaceful mechanism on the peninsula meets the interests of Korean people and is also conducive to peace, stability and development on the peninsula,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao at a regular news briefing. “China, as an important nation in northeast Asia and also a contracting party to an armistice agreement of the Korean War, will go on playing an active role in the process,” Liu said.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) are still technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The ROK President Roh Moo-hyun traveled to the DPRK’s capital of Pyongyang on Oct. 2 for an inter-Korean summit, after which Rohand the DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il signed a joint declaration, reaffirming their commitment to promoting peace on the peninsula.
The two sides also agreed to work together to advance the matter of having the leaders of the three or four parties directly concerned to convene on the Peninsula and declare an end to the war, according to the declaration. Relevant parties just proposed the three or four parties summit, which still calls for further detailed consultations through diplomatic channels, Liu said.
The first step of the peace process is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which tops the current agenda of the six-party talks on the nuclear issue, according to the spokesman. “China will surely play an important and constructive role in the issues concerning peace and stability on Korean Peninsula and northeast Asia,” Liu said.—Xinhua