N. Korea To Abandon Nukes?

South Korea's Foreign Minister Says North Wants 'Peaceful' Activities

(AP)  North Korea apparently is willing to abandon its nuclear weapons programs, with a breakthrough possible in the current round of international talks, South Korea's foreign minister said Sunday.

Ban Ki-moon, in Washington to meet Tuesday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials about the nuclear standoff, raised the possibility that the North might be able to pursue "peaceful" nuclear activities in the future.

North Korea first must dismantle all its nuclear weapons and end its development programs, return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and comply fully with safeguards from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, Ban told CNN's "Late Edition."

"Then the trust will be restored and the talks for a peaceful use of the nuclear energy should be opened," he said.

The Bush administration, however, wants the communist nation to be nuclear-free.

"We don't really feel they need to get involved with nuclear energy in the future," the chief U.S. envoy to the talk, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said last week.

The latest round of talks are set to resume Aug. 29 in Beijing after a three-week break. Participants include the Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.

Ban acknowledged the need for close discussions, particularly with the U.S., over letting the North pursue such nuclear activities.

"At this time, we think that when it comes to peaceful uses, like medical or industrial purposes, we should have no problem in that," he said.

The minister contended that South Korea and the U.S. "are on the same page" on this issue. "We do not have that much difference on that point."