SEOUL, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- South Korea is seeking a written pledge from North Korea to dismantle its nuclear drive in upcoming talks, Seoul's diplomatic chief said Wednesday.
But it would be a long process, Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said, cautioning against hopes for a breakthrough in the near future.
The six-nation talks on ending the North's nuclear programs are to resume on Feb. 8 in China, following ongoing bilateral meetings between North Korea and the United States over financial sanctions on the communist country.
"It is just a beginning. We cannot agree and implement all at one time," Song told a press briefing. "If we say (such an agreement) is a mountain, we have to reach a ridge where we have never been before."
Seoul has been nervous over the Korean peninsula's security following its northern neighbor's nuclear missile tests last year and hopes the six-party negotiations -- comprising of the two Koreas, United States, Russia, Japan and China -- would succeed in ending the North's nuclear weapons drive in return for financial and economic assistance to the impoverished country.
