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SEOUL: The North Korean government has hosted a
reception for the visiting Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary
Alberto Romulo and pledged to develop “good-neighborly and
friendly relations,” official media said Wednesday.
The pledge was made in a speech
by Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun to the reception on Tuesday, the
Korean Central News Agency said.
Romulo is the most senior
Philippine official to visit the communist state since the two
countries established diplomatic ties seven years ago.
Before departing on a visit to
South Korea, China and North Korea, he had called for a peaceful
resolution of the Korean nuclear issue “through decisive diplomacy
and meaningful dialogue.”
Foreign department sources in
Manila said Romulo would also urge North Korea to remain active in
the Asean Regional Forum, Asia’s only security forum.
Pyongyang last Saturday invited
an International Atomic Energy Agency team to discuss the shutdown
of its nuclear reactor, the first stage of a multinational nuclear
disarmament accord.
--AFP
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