SEOUL, Aug 11: South Korea’s pointman on North Korea defied the United States on Thursday and supported the country’s demand for the right to maintain a civilian nuclear programme. Six-country talks on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme in exchange for diplomatic and economic benefits went into recess last Sunday.

They are deadlocked over Pyongyang’s demand to build nuclear power plants even if it disarms, something Washington flatly rejects.

“Our position is that North Korea’s demand for the right to maintain a peaceful nuclear programme should be allowed as its natural right,” said South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young.

Chung said that if Pyongyang returned to the non-proliferation treaty, it would be qualified to have a civilian nuclear programme. He admitted that without US approval, it would be impossible for a project to go ahead to build light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea to generate electricity.

But Chung said maintaining nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes would be ‘North Korea’s basic right’.

“On this point we have different views from the United States,” he said in an interview with internet news provider Media Daum. Analysts said Chung was urging Washington to be flexible when it returns to the table in Beijing in the week of August 29.

“Chung is sending a message to Washington that it should be flexible and make concessions for progress in six-party talks,” said Korea University professor Nam Sung-Wook.

South Korea offered in June to supply its isolated neighbour with large supplies of electricity should it renounce nuclear weapons.

The offer helped encourage the North to come back to six-party talks, which involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan. Christopher Hill, US envoy to the negotiations, remains adamant that the North should not maintain a civilian nuclear programme.—AFP