N. Korea reiterates pledges to denuclearize

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
North Korea's No. 2 leader pledged his country's commitment Thursday to giving up its nuclear program during a meeting with a visiting high-level South Korean delegation. "The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the dying wish" of the country's late founding president Kim Il Sung, said Kim Yong Nam. The North "will make efforts to realize it," he said. At the meeting, South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung pressed the North to implement a February 13 pledge to take initial steps to disarm. "It is important to make efforts to ensure that South and North Korea cooperate and six countries each assume their responsibilities," Lee said in reference to the accord reached last month in Beijing between North Korea and five other countries.