"It is a right and positive decision,'' Kong said Thursday at a regular press briefing.

"We sincerely hope that the UN Security Council resolution can be implemented in a comprehensive and strict manner, that the UN inspectors return to Baghdad as soon as possible, and that the Iraqi issue be solved within the UN framework at an early date,'' Kong said.

Kong also reiterated the importance of the 1994 Agreed Framework between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) when asked to comment on the visit of US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly to Beijing.

Kelly met Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday. His second visit to Beijing in a month focused on the continuation of fuel oil shipments to the DPRK. Kong said Kelly also discussed bilateral relations with Chinese officials.

The framework, under which the DPRK said it would freeze its graphite-moderated reactors and related facilities in exchange for 500,000 tons of fuel oil a year, has played an important role in relaxing tensions on the peninsula, Kong said.

"China has always held that the Korean Peninsula should be nuclear free, stable and peaceful,'' Kong said.

In another development, Kong said China has demanded that Japan recall Amano Hiromasa, a Japanese military attache who entered a military restricted area in East China's Zhejiang Province on October 26.

"Amano himself has admitted that he had poked (around for) military information in the restricted area,'' Kong said. "His action has violated several Chinese laws and the evidence is clear,'' he added.

In other matters, Kong said Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan will attend this year's foreign ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization next Saturday in Moscow. Tang will visit Spain and Germany after the meeting.

Vice-Foreign Minister Yang Wenchang will head the Chinese delegation to the senior officials' meeting of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum on November 25 in Ethiopia.

(China Daily November 15, 2002)