By Shim Jae-yun
President Park Geun-hye called on North Korea, Wednesday, to join Seoul's endeavors toward the unification of the Korean Peninsula.
Toward that end, she emphasized the need for the two Koreas to closely work together to build up mutual trust, while discarding hitherto hostile policies against each other.
Park urged the reclusive nation to do away with its nuclear development program, describing it as "the biggest barrier" to making progress in inter-Korean relations.
"North Korea should give up its nuclear program in the near future and return to the international community as a responsible member," Park said in a speech during a ceremony to mark Armed Forces Day at the military headquarters in Daejeon, some 150 kilometers south of Seoul.
She said North Korea's nuclear program poses the greatest threat to security in Northeast Asia and thus should be addressed without fail.
She also renewed her call on the North to improve its human rights situation, recalling that she raised the issue during recent meetings at the United Nations.
"The human rights issue is the one about which the international community is most concerned and to which it pays keen attention," Park said.
Park's comments on the North Korean nuclear program came a day after representatives from the United States and South Korea met in Seoul to discuss how to deal with the issue.
Glyn Davies, the top U.S. nuclear envoy, came here Tuesday for talks with his South Korean counterpart over the envisioned resumption of the long-stalled six-party talks to terminate North Korea's nuclear program.
Davies already met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing and criticized North Korea for having flatly rejected calls by neighboring countries to abide by its earlier pledges toward denuclearization.
The U.S. envoy flew to Japan for talks on the same issue.
North Korea, for its part, has been calling on the United States to discard its hostile policies toward the reclusive state. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong said in an address to the U.N. General Assembly that the impasse over the country's nuclear weapons program will continue unless U.S. drops its antagonistic stance toward the North.
North Korea has maintained that it has no choice but to possess nuclear weapons as a deterrent against what it claims is the U.S. hostile policy toward it.
The U.S. has also accused the North of attempting to use American detainees there as leverage in negotiations.
President Park Geun-hye called on North Korea, Wednesday, to join Seoul's endeavors toward the unification of the Korean Peninsula.
Toward that end, she emphasized the need for the two Koreas to closely work together to build up mutual trust, while discarding hitherto hostile policies against each other.
Park urged the reclusive nation to do away with its nuclear development program, describing it as "the biggest barrier" to making progress in inter-Korean relations.
"North Korea should give up its nuclear program in the near future and return to the international community as a responsible member," Park said in a speech during a ceremony to mark Armed Forces Day at the military headquarters in Daejeon, some 150 kilometers south of Seoul.
She said North Korea's nuclear program poses the greatest threat to security in Northeast Asia and thus should be addressed without fail.
She also renewed her call on the North to improve its human rights situation, recalling that she raised the issue during recent meetings at the United Nations.
"The human rights issue is the one about which the international community is most concerned and to which it pays keen attention," Park said.
Park's comments on the North Korean nuclear program came a day after representatives from the United States and South Korea met in Seoul to discuss how to deal with the issue.
Glyn Davies, the top U.S. nuclear envoy, came here Tuesday for talks with his South Korean counterpart over the envisioned resumption of the long-stalled six-party talks to terminate North Korea's nuclear program.
Davies already met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing and criticized North Korea for having flatly rejected calls by neighboring countries to abide by its earlier pledges toward denuclearization.
The U.S. envoy flew to Japan for talks on the same issue.
North Korea, for its part, has been calling on the United States to discard its hostile policies toward the reclusive state. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong said in an address to the U.N. General Assembly that the impasse over the country's nuclear weapons program will continue unless U.S. drops its antagonistic stance toward the North.
North Korea has maintained that it has no choice but to possess nuclear weapons as a deterrent against what it claims is the U.S. hostile policy toward it.
The U.S. has also accused the North of attempting to use American detainees there as leverage in negotiations.
