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NEW YORK - South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said here Wednesday that North Korea's decision to kick out international nuclear inspectors from its key nuclear complex was "very unfortunate."
He expressed cautious optimism that China and other nations involved in talks with the hardline comunist state would prevent the North from returning to its illegal nuclear actvities.
"Although we are at an impasse, I'm sure that China, together with the other partners, will be able to solve this problem eventually," he told the New York based Asia Society at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, which he is attending.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that North Korea had kicked out IAEA inspectors from the Yongbyon nuclear plant, removed its surveillance equipment there, and planned to reintroduce nuclear material.
It was the latest defiant step from North Korea toward the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia -- its partners in the six-party negotiations that produced an aid-for-nuclear disarmament deal last year.
Han said North Korea's defiance reminded of a near similar move by the reclusive nation in 1993, when it balked at verification of its nuclear programs and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
On North-South relations, he said the two neighbors had increased contacts in recent years but "such a quantitative expansion has not brought fundamental change in relations between the two Koreas."
North Korea has shown little interest in examples of reform and openness demonstrated by China or Vietnam," he said.
"Instead Pyongyang has developed a nuclear weapons program, causing security instability in the region and placing a heavy burden on the economy of North Korea itself," he said.
"We are ready and more than willing to help North Korea achieve economic growth," he said. - AFP/vm
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