South Korea Counts on Russia's "Constructive Role" in Peaceful Solution of North Korean Problem

South Korea expects Russia to go on playing a constructive part in the peaceful solution of the North Korean nuclear problem in close cooperation with Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Choi Sung Hong said on Friday during a telephone conversation with Russia's deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, who recently visited Pyongyang as a special representative of the Russian president.

South Korea's news agency Ryon Hap cited a source in the Seoul government as saying Losyukov had reported North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's interest towards Russia's proposal about a package solution to the Korean problem.

The proposal in question envisages a nuclear-free status for the Korean Peninsula, strict adherence to the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and fulfillment of all commitments stipulated in other international agreements, including the 1994 Framework Agreement between the USA and North Korea.

The package solution, too, envisages constructive two-sided and many-sided dialogues between the parties concerned /which must secure North Korea's safety/ and resumption of humanitarian and economic programs that used to function on the Korean Peninsula.