Roh, Hu agree to closely cooperate on dismantling of N. Korean nuclear program

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Chinese President Hu Jintao held a summit here Friday and agreed to closely cooperate to pressure North Korea through dialogue and peaceful means to abandon its nuclear program, Roh's spokesman said.

Roh and Hu also agreed to play a constructive role in the six-party nuclear disarmament talks expected to restart next month, according to Yoon Tae-young.

The two leaders are in Hanoi to attend the annual APEC summit slated for Friday through Sunday in this Vietnamese capital.

"President Roh welcomed the Chinese government's effort to help restart the six-party talks through recent tripartite talks with the U.S. and North Korea," said Yoon. "In response, President Hu expressed a wish for South Korea and China to closely cooperate for the peaceful settlement of the North Korean nuclear problem and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

North Korea has recently agreed to return to the six-party talks, which also involve South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, after a hiatus of about a year. The resumption of the talks is due next month, according to government officials in Seoul. The talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program stalled last November after Washington refused to lift financial sanctions against Pyongyang.

Roh and Hu shared an understanding that the most important matter at the upcoming six-party talks will be how to implement the Sept. 19, 2005 agreement on North Korea's nuclear program, in which the participants of the six-party talks produced a joint statement on the North's nuclear dismantlement in return for security guarantees and economic benefits, according to Roh's chief security policy secretary Song Min-soon.

"Presidents Roh and Hu agreed that it is important to gradually implement as many measures as possible that are included in the Sept. 19, 2005 agreement," said Song, briefing reporters on the result of the summit.

Song, who has been named South Korea's new foreign minister, said the two leaders highly valued each other's role in such efforts and agreed on the need to strengthen bilateral cooperation to convince the North to follow the steps set forth in the Sept. 19 agreement.

"They also agreed that the North Korean nuclear problem must necessarily be resolved through dialogue and it is important for the U.S. and North Korea to hold as many bilateral contacts as possible. In this sense, Hu stressed that South Korea should persuade the U.S. and North Korea to have direct talks by taking advantage of its unique position," Song explained.

According to spokesman Yoon, aides for Roh and Hu have agreed to hold further discussions on the North Korean problem and other regional issues through a tripartite summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the ASEAN plus Three Summit slated for early December in the Philippines.

They also agreed to steadily implement measures to further cement bilateral strategic partnership relations, agreed upon during the South Korean leader's visit to Beijing in 2003.

"They pledged closer cooperation for the success of various joint events planned to celebrate the 'Year of South Korea-China Exchanges' in 2007," Yoon said.

Hanoi, Nov. 17 (Yonhap News)