S. Korea Backs North’s Bid for Nuclear Energy

SEOUL —  A senior South Korean official said Thursday that North Korea had the right to a peaceful nuclear program, a view conflicting with Washington’s.

“Our position is that North Korea has a general right to peaceful use of nuclear energy, for agricultural, medical and power-generating purposes,” South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong Young said in an interview with the online news service Media Daum.

“In this, our position differs from that of Washington,” he said.

There was no immediate reaction from the U.S. But on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill reiterated U.S. opposition to allowing North Korea to retain nuclear capability for civilian purposes.

Hill, the chief U.S. envoy at six-nation talks aimed at persuading the North to renounce its nuclear weapons program, said previously that negotiations stalled Sunday over the Pyongyang regime’s demand for a light-water reactor, which Washington has ruled out.

Chung’s ministry sought to play down any conflict with Washington.

“Seoul and Washington understand each other’s position and are working closely toward the goal of resolving the nuclear issue,” ministry spokesman Kim Hong Jae said.

Later Thursday, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon said the North should be allowed to explore peaceful uses of nuclear energy if it rejoined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and permitted inspections by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. Ban made the comments on arrival in Beijing, where he will meet with Chinese officials.