Kazakhstan may help inter-Korean talks

South Korea counts on Kazakhstan’s assistance in holding talks with North Korea. Chairperson of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies Han Sung-Joo announced that. He signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Foreign Policy Research Institute of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. This document will help to enhance cooperation with the entire Central Asian region, he said. Seoul and Nur-Sultan are connected by 100,000 members of Korean diaspora living in Kazakhstan. In addition, South Korea is interested in Kazakhstan’s unique experience in renouncing nuclear weapons, he underlined.

“There are very few countries that have possessed nuclear weapons and have voluntarily renounced them. Kazakhstan has such experience and is an example of this. North Korea is showing that it doesn’t want denuclearization. We intend to hold direct talks and, with the help of international organizations or countries, such as Kazakhstan, that have renounced nuclear weapons, to persuade North Korea to do so. I think we should reach an agreement on the nuclear disarmament of North Korea without an armed conflict. Therefore, the memorandum signed between Kazakhstan and South Korea is of great importance,” Han said.

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova