Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye and her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin confirmed on Wednesday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will never be accepted as a nuclear power.

The two leaders said in a joint statement after holding talks at Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae that Pyongyang's stand-alone path to build up nuclear and missile capabilities was unacceptable, stressing that the DPRK will not be a nuclear power.

The joint communique said that the DPRK should live up to international obligations and promises, including the Sept 19, 2005, Joint Statement, noting that participants of the long-stalled Six-Party Talks would make joint efforts to resume denuclearization discussions.

"If we constantly set preconditions for the start of talks, they may never begin," Putin said. "It seems to me that it would be better if the talks resumed and all the participants returned to the negotiating table and then resolve the issues that had brought them together."

-Xinhua

(China Daily 11/14/2013 page11)