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South Korea calls for patience
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea is urging the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to delay an emergency meeting to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue. The U.N. announced on Friday the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would hold a special meeting of its board of governors meeting in Vienna on February 3 to debate the restarting of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear reactor and its withdrawal from the non-proliferation treaty. The IAEA will consider whether to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions against the North. Pyongyang has said any sanctions would effectively be a declaration of war. But Seoul, host of inter-Korean ministerial talks this past week, wants to give diplomatic efforts more time to resolve the dispute. Urging direct dialogue, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung will dispatch two envoys to North Korea next week to seek a peaceful resolution to the standoff. Diplomatic pressureThe increase of diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang comes despite South Korea not winning any commitment from North Korea during the talks in Seoul to take steps to ease the crisis. Former reunification minister Lim Dong-won, a security adviser to Kim, will visit the North on Monday, accompanied by an envoy of President-elect Roh Moo-hyun. The envoys, which are expected to carry a personal letter from President Kim, are set to stay in North Korea for two to three days. Further diplomatic efforts are in the works, with Roh telling CNN he planned to propose a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il soon after taking power. "I will propose to meet with Chairman Kim Jong Il even if I lose face in the eyes of my people because I value dialogue and think dialogue is the key," Roh said. (Full story) N. Korea 'has restarted' nuke facilitiesIn other developments, a former U.S. defense secretary says North Korea has ratcheted up the nuclear crisis by starting the reprocessing of nuclear material at its Yongbyon facility. "The reprocessing has begun but it has several months to go before it would be completed," former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said. "The dangerous time is when that reprocessing is completed, at which time the plutonium -- weapons grade plutonium -- could be moved. That's several months away." (N. Korea nuke work 'has begun') Perry did not say how he could be certain that the reprocessing has begun, while Pentagon and diplomatic sources say there has been no sign that has happened. 'Active cooperation'
Meanwhile, North and South Korea have "agreed to actively cooperate" to resolve the issue peacefully, a joint statement that wrapped up the high-level talks -- which ended on Friday -- said. However, South Korean officials added that despite intensive pressure the agreement did not mean that had made substantive progress in drawing any compromises from the North. "Although we have not been able to draw out a more progressive position on North Korea's nuclear issue, we have sufficiently delivered our and the international community's concern on the nuclear issue," a statement from the South Korean side said. South Korea, which has been pushing diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the standoff, has been keen to press the North to prove its claims that it is not developing nuclear weapons and does not plan to do so. North Korea has repeatedly said the dispute over its alleged weapons program lies solely with the United States and can only be resolved through bilateral dialogue with Washington. Yet in recent days, it appears to have softened its position, expressing a willingness to accept mediation from the South.
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