Lee Soo-hyuck, head of the Republic of Korea (ROK) delegation to the six-party talks, said in Beijing Wednesday that the ROK side was in a determined mind to fulfill the task of solving the Korean nuclear issue.  

At the opening ceremony of the third round of the six-party talks, Lee called for the concerned parties to eliminate distrust and narrow differences and make progress in building a nuclear weapon-free Korean peninsula.

He said the ROK has sensed the strong wills of concerned parties to achieve a nuclear weapon-free status on the Korean peninsula through various means, and the ROK side hoped the third round of six-party talks could bear positive fruits.

"After two rounds of working group meetings and bilateral consultations between relevant parties, we feel our task is important and challenging, and we believe that a determined mind could fulfill the task," Lee noted.

ROK President Roh Moo-hyun once said, according to Lee, the solution of the Korean peninsula nuclear issue could help the ROK and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to make full-ranging progress on establishing bilateral cooperation.

He expressed the wish that the solution of the issue would help create a permanent foundation for peace on the Korean peninsula and achieve the common prosperity of the ROK and the DPRK.

Lee expressed appreciation to China for hosting the six-party talks in Beijing.

Lee also strongly condemned terrorism after a ROK citizen was killed in Iraq, expressing his thanks to the delegation heads for their condolences on the tragedy.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2004)