No returnn to nuclear talks without resolving Cheonan

By Na Jeong-ju

Staff reporter

A senior policymaker on North Korea made it clear Wednesday that South Korea won't return to the six-nation talks on the North's nuclear program without addressing the Communist state's torpedo attack on a Navy vessel in March.

"It is needless to start the six-party talks again if North Korea is left unpunished," Vice Unification Minister Eom Jong-sik said in a forum on inter-Korean relations, hosted by the National Unification Advisory Council in Seoul.

"The denuclearization process, even if it resumes, will be disrupted by North Korea's provocative acts at some point. We need to make it pay the price for the torpedo attack."

Eom said the government will deal firmly with any offensive behavior by the North to make it act more responsibly.

"Our foremost goal is to make North Korea give up its nuclear ambitions. The inter-Korean relations cannot move forward if it keeps ignoring international calls for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula," he said. "Our North Korea policy is aimed at preventing further acts of aggression and guiding it to take the right path."

Earlier Wednesday, President Lee Myung-bak held a meeting with his security advisors at Cheong Wa Dae to deal with the aftermath of the deadly sinking of the warship Cheonan.

He has reaffirmed stern countermeasures against North Korea and vowed to strengthen defense readiness, presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said, without elaborating due to security reasons.

Topics discussed at the meeting included Seoul's plan to seek an international response to the attack, and ways to boost its defense alliance with the United States, according to participants.