Nuclear issue topped the agenda of the first plenary session of the 13th Inter-Korean Ministerial Meeting which is going on in Seoul Wednesday, the Yonhap News Agency reported.  

Delegations from the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held the first plenary session of the high-level inter-Korean talks in downtown Seoul on Wednesday, one day after Pyongyang announced the second round of six-party nuclear talks would be held on Feb. 25 in Beijing.

ROK's chief negotiator, Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, said at the session the Korean Peninsula should remain nuclear-free. He urged the DPRK to "take more forward-looking position on dismantling the nuclear program beyond freezing it," Shin Eon-sang, a spokesman and member of the ROK delegation, said after the conclusion of the first plenary session.

In response, chief DPRK delegate Kim Ryong Song called for compensation as the first step in return for DPRK's freeze of its nuclear program if the United States cannot fully carry out a simultaneous solution.

Kim urged the United States to "lay down guns together." "We cannot trust the American words that they will lay down theirs if the DPRK drops its guns first," he said.

Kim Ryong Song, DPRK's state counselor, underscored that DPRK's proposals should be addressed at the forthcoming second round of nuclear talks.

Pyongyang in January this year offered to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for economic, political and other concessions from the United States, which the latter has rejected.

The United States is asking the DPRK to dismantle its nuclear program in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible way."

During the 110-minute meeting, the ROK side also proposed holding another inter-Korean defense meeting to ease tension and build military confidence between the two countries, according to Shin Eon-sang, but the DPRK team did not respond.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2004)