FM : Designation of NK as Nuke Power is Mistake
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says he has confirmed with top U.S. officials that the U.S. clearly made a mistake in identifying North Korea as a nuclear power in a recent report.
The foreign minister said during a parliamentary session on Wednesday that he conferred with high-ranking officials at the White House and State Department, adding that the U.S. will soon address the mistake on its Web site and in a briefing.
The U.S. Joint Forces Command had recently released a report describing the communist state as one of five Asian nuclear powers, along with China, India, Pakistan and Russia. The Pentagon reiterated earlier on Wednesday that the report does not reflect the official stance of the U.S. government.
Yu also said that South Korea and the U.S. share the view that North Korea should rejoin the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and succumb to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
He explained that Seoul and Washington are doing their best to reflect their positions in the drafting of a nuclear verification protocol during the ongoing six-party talks in Beijing.
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