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South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, now on a state visit to Spain, said the settlement of North Korea's nuclear problem would lead to inter-Korean negotiations on the establishment of a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

Meeting with South Korean residents in Spain on Tuesday evening, the president said the inclusion of a clause calling for the inter-Korean talks on establishing a permanent peace treaty among the agreements of the just-ended six-party denuclearization talks would have "far-reaching effects."

He also noted that the eventual establishment of a peace treaty will pave the way for Seoul's external credit rating to rise to the top level in the world.

"Continued confrontation and distrust between South and North Korea even in the wake of the settlement of the North's nuclear problem will hamper the South's rise in its international credit rating," Roh said.

"A successful conclusion of an inter-Korean peace treaty would eliminate the (last) non-economic hurdle to South Korea's ascent to the top of the global credit rating ladder."

The president said the formation of a multilateral Northeast Asian security framework, as mentioned in the latest six-party agreement, will also be beneficial to South Korea's international credit standing.

He said the contents of the six-party agreement reached in Beijing on Tuesday were very specific and substantial. "All parties of the six-nation talks faithfully produced the agreements.

Thus I expect that the agreements will be smoothly enforced in the future."

During a bilateral summit in Vietnam last November, Roh and U.S. President George W. Bush reportedly exchanged opinions on the signing of a treaty between the two Koreas to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War and restore peace on the peninsula.

The Korean War ended with an armistice between the American-led U.N. command and the alliance of North Korea and China. The accord has never been converted into a peace treaty, technically leaving the peninsula in a state of war.

Meanwhile, Yun Byung-se, senior secretary to Roh for foreign and security policy, said in Seoul on the same day that the two Koreas may soon resume high-level dialogue to discuss the South's shipments of rice and fertilizer aid to the North.

"There will be some good news between the Koreas following the arrival of good news from Beijing. High-level inter-Korean dialogue will be restarted in the near future for comprehensive discussions on pending issues," Yun said on a KBS radio talk show Wednesday morning.

"The government will manage its North-bound aid shipments, including delivery of fuel oil, in a transparent manner and report all the details to the National Assembly and the people."

Asked if an inter-Korean summit would be held prior to December's presidential election, the secretary gave an ambiguous answer. "Discussions on an inter-Korean summit are meaningless at this point, as a lot of circumstances, including progress on the North Korean nuclear problem, should be comprehensively taken into consideration," he said.
Madrid/Seoul, Feb. 14 (Yonhap News)