Press Release No. 177-03
16 April 2003
SECRETARY
OPLE WELCOMES DPRK’s SHIFT IN DIALOGUE POLICY
Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople welcomed today an apparent shift in
the policy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on the dialogue
format with the U.S. to address the nuclear standoff that has raised tensions
in the Korean peninsula in the past months.
Secretary Ople said that the DPRK’s change of stance needs the support and
encouragement of all countries to ensure peace and stability in the Korean
peninsula. The spokesman of the DPRK Foreign Ministry said the DPRK will
not stick to any particular dialogue format for the settlement of the nuclear
issue.
The DPRK had insisted on direct talks with the U.S. to resolve the seeming
impasse, saying that it was a product of a hostile U.S. policy towards the
DPRK when President George Bush branded the DPRK as part of “an axis of evil”
in January 2002.
The U.S. had rejected the DPRK's demand as a ploy to extract more concessions.
It has offered, instead, to discuss the dispute in a multilateral setting
that includes South Korea, Russia, China and other countries.
Secretary Ople also supports the upcoming visit of Cambodian Foreign Minister
and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Chairman Hor Namhong to DPRK later this month
in a bid to defuse the crisis.
The Philippines, as a member of ARF, supports all diplomatic efforts to resolve
the nuclear standoff in the Korean peninsula. END