Nobel winners ask US to lift N. Korea sanctions

A group of 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners on Saturday called on the United States to lift financial restrictions on North Korea to help end the impasse over the communist nation's nuclear weapons program. "We urge the DPRK to completely abandon its nuclear weapons policy and accept international inspections," the laureates said Saturday in a declaration in the South Korean city of Gwangju. "We also call for the US to end financial and economic sanctions on the DPRK and offer security guarantees." DPRK stands for the North's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.