S. Korean minister downplays Pyongyang's objection to 'comprehensive package'

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with comments on N. Korean representative, S. Korean
detainee, other details)
By Lee Chi-dong
PHUKET, Thailand, July 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan
on Thursday played down North Korea's initial response to an envisioned
"comprehensive package" of incentives offered to Pyongyang in return for the
"complete and irreversible" dismantlement of its nuclear program.

Attending the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) here, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton announced Wednesday that the Obama administration is willing to offer a
comprehensive package, including normalization of diplomatic relations with
North Korea, if it abandons its nuclear arsenal.
Only a day later, however, a North Korean representative to the ARF openly called
the proposal "nonsense," claiming it is part of Washington's attempt to
unilaterally disarm Pyongyang. Ri Hung-sik, head of the North Korean foreign
ministry's international organization bureau, told reporters that it is
tantamount to the Bush administration's push for "complete, verifiable, and
irreversible" denuclearization.
The South Korean minister would not regard Ri's comments as Pyongyang's formal
response to the package, which has not been officially put on the bargaining
table.
"For now, it is still a concept, of which details should be worked out through
consultations among related nations," the minister said at a press briefing on
the results of the ARF meeting, in which Yu said the North Korean issue was
discussed significantly.
He said that the proposal is part of efforts to prepare for the resumption of the
six-way disarmament talks with the North.
Meanwhile, North Korea used the ARF to defend its recent actions, including a
second nuclear test in May and a series of missile launches, according to the
minister.
During the plenary session of the forum, Amb. Pak Kun-gwang, head of the North's
delegation, explained Pyongyang's existing stance on its missile and nuclear
programs, Yu said.
But other participants agreed that the North's provocations should not proceed
with impunity, he said.
Yu noted China's clear opposition to North Korea's nuclear development and
demonstration of its will to enforce the U.N. sanctions resolution against
Pyongyang.
Yu said he did not raise the issue of a South Korean worker detained in North
Korea during multilateral meetings here, although he talked about it when he met
bilaterally with other ministers.
The 44-year-old employee at the inter-Korean industrial park in Kaesong was
arrested by North Korean authorities in late March on charges of criticizing the
North's political system. He has been held in the secretive nation incommunicado.
The ARF is an annual forum of top diplomats from the 10 Southeast Asian nations
and more than two dozen other nations, including the U.S., China, Russia, Japan
and the two Koreas.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)