SOUTH KOREA: South Korean protesters burn effigy of North Korean leader

Hundreds of South Korean protesters held rallies in downtown Seoul on Tuesday (December 19), burning a North Korean flag and an effigy of the country's leader Kim Jung-il, as the latest round of six-party talks in Beijing saw little progress. About 200 protesters from the Citizen's Coalition to Stop the Nuclear Development of North Korea, one of the country's most active civic groups, urged the South Korean government to stop helping North Korea financially and force it to scrap its nuclear weapons. "If this round of six-party talks can't achieve nuclear disarmament in North Korea, we will strongly urge to stop this useless six-party talks and entrust North Korea' nuclear problems to UN council," said Park Chan-sung, chairman of the Citizens' Coalition to Stop the Nuclear Development of North Korea. Monday's opening meeting of envoys from the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia marked the first six-party talks in Beijng in more than a year, and was held in the shadow of Pyongyang's first nuclear test, on Oct. 9. But in his opening bid, North Korea's envoy, Kim Kye-gwan, pressed sweeping demands in return for scrapping its nuclear weapons, starting with lifting U.N. sanctions and U.S. financial curbs and including provision of a new nuclear reactor. The top U.S. negotiator, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill said on Tuesday (December 19) he saw no progress yet and urged Pyongyang to come to the table with a realistic offer.

ITN Source | December 19, 2006

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