North Korea on Friday proposed to build a lasting peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula to replace the ceasefire treaty with the United States that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

"Building a peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula would contribute in all circumstances to the creation of an atmosphere for the peaceful co-existence between North Korea and the US, and to the achievement of a peaceful reunification of the north and the south of Korea," a unnamed foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.

The Korean War ended with an armistice and not a comprehensive peace treaty.

"The building of a peace mechanism is a process which North Korea and the US should go through without fail in order to attain the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula," the spokesman added.

He pointed out that the main impediment to the resolution of the armistice issue in the Korean Peninsula is the continuing US hostile policy toward North Korea, even though over half a century has passed since the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed.

"Replacing the armistice mechanism by a peace mechanism would lead to putting an end to the US hostile policy toward North Korea, which spawned the nuclear issue and the former's nuclear threat" against North Korea, he said.

A formal peace treaty would "automatically result in the denuclearization of the peninsula," he added.

"Building a peace mechanism would not only help towards achieving peace and security on the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia and the rest of the world, but give a strong impetus to... the forthcoming Six-Party Talks aimed at settling the nuclear issue," he added.

Delegation arrives in Beijing

North Korean delegation, the first foreign delegation, arrived in Beijing on Friday for the imminent fourth round of the six-party talks on Korean Peninsular nuclear issue, a witness from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

The talks, involving China, North Korea, the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan, are set to begin next Tuesday.

Other four foreign delegations will arrive in the coming days, according to sources.

The duration of the talks, due to be held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, the venue for the previous three rounds, is yet to be decided.

According to sources with the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the head of the Chinese delegation will be Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, and the head of North Korean delegation is Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan.

South Korean delegation will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, the US delegation by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the Russian delegation by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev, and the Japanese delegation by Sasae Kenichiro, director general of the Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

The six-party talks, aiming to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, had gathered delegates from the afore-mentioned six countries three times in Beijing.

More than 300 overseas correspondents will report on the upcoming six-party talks, said sources from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on Friday.

The international correspondents include over 100 residing in Beijing and another 200 who have registered with the Chinese Foreign Ministry from abroad.

China will open a press center for the six-party talks on Monday morning. The press center is located at the Diaoyutai Hotel, next to the venue of the talks in Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

(China Daily July 23, 2005)