Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda welcomed a summit meeting between South and North Koreas, saying Friday that agreements the two countries made would contribute to easing tension on the Korean peninsula.
Fukuda talked with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in a telephone conference Friday following the three-day summit between Roh and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, which ended Thursday.
The two Koreas agreed Thursday to pursue a peace treaty to replace the current armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, and to seek a meeting of parties to the cease-fire to discuss the matter.
They also signed an accord promising a joint effort to implement previous agreements from six-nation arms talks to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.
The summit would contribute to promoting ties between the two Koreas and easing tension on the Korean peninsula, Fukuda was quoted as telling Roh in a Japanese Foreign Ministry press release.
Roh called on Kim to improve its ties with Japan, according to the statement.
Kim expressed his expectations to improve relations with Japan during the summit, Fukuda told reporters later Friday, quoting Roh.
Establishing a peace treaty would require the participation of the U.S. and China, which also fought in the Korean War. U.S. President George W. Bush told Roh last month that he was willing to formally end the war, but insisted it could only happen after Pyongyang's total nuclear disarmament.
<Vocabulary>
peninsula : 半島
pursue : 続ける、追いかける
armistice : 休戦
replace : 置き換える
seek : 追求する、求める
cease-fire : 休戦、停戦
accord : 合意、調停
joint effort : 共同努力
implement : 実行する、履行する
ties : きずな、関係
quoted as telling ～ that ： that以下と～に述べたと言われてる
call on : 要求する、訪問する
quote : 引用する
establish : 設立する、作る
be willing to : ～してもかまわない
insist: 強く主張する
disarmament : 軍縮、武装解除
Fukuda talked with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in a telephone conference Friday following the three-day summit between Roh and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, which ended Thursday.
The two Koreas agreed Thursday to pursue a peace treaty to replace the current armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, and to seek a meeting of parties to the cease-fire to discuss the matter.
They also signed an accord promising a joint effort to implement previous agreements from six-nation arms talks to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.
The summit would contribute to promoting ties between the two Koreas and easing tension on the Korean peninsula, Fukuda was quoted as telling Roh in a Japanese Foreign Ministry press release.
Roh called on Kim to improve its ties with Japan, according to the statement.
Kim expressed his expectations to improve relations with Japan during the summit, Fukuda told reporters later Friday, quoting Roh.
Establishing a peace treaty would require the participation of the U.S. and China, which also fought in the Korean War. U.S. President George W. Bush told Roh last month that he was willing to formally end the war, but insisted it could only happen after Pyongyang's total nuclear disarmament.
<Vocabulary>
peninsula : 半島
pursue : 続ける、追いかける
armistice : 休戦
replace : 置き換える
seek : 追求する、求める
cease-fire : 休戦、停戦
accord : 合意、調停
joint effort : 共同努力
implement : 実行する、履行する
ties : きずな、関係
quoted as telling ～ that ： that以下と～に述べたと言われてる
call on : 要求する、訪問する
quote : 引用する
establish : 設立する、作る
be willing to : ～してもかまわない
insist: 強く主張する
disarmament : 軍縮、武装解除
