S Korea Calls on Pyongyang to Come to Denuclearization Talks With Sincerity

South Korean Ambassador to Russia Park Ro-Byug said that North Korea will participate in talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Seoul has called on Pyongyang to come to the six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, South Korean Ambassador to Russia Park Ro-Byug told Sputnik.

“As far as the six-party talks are concerned, it depends on North Korea. We have repeatedly emphasized and signaled that our door is open. We hope that North Korea will come to the table with sincerity.” Park added.

In 2003, Pyongyang joined negotiations on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula with the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, having earlier withdrawn from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that it ratified in 1985.

The negotiations stalled in 2009 after North Korea refused to take part in further discussions; it had declared itself a nuclear power in 2005 and conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

On Sunday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye, speaking at a high-level tripartite summit between Japan, South Korea and China, said that the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear weapons program should be renewed to prevent a deterioration of the situation in the Korean peninsula.