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South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said that his government was ready to offer whatever aid North Korea demanded to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs.

Roh said he had thought that "We should be ready to meet whatever demands are imposed by North Korea (at the six-nation nuclear talks) in order to settle its nuclear problem, because it will still prove to be a profitable business," although he refrained from actually making such remarks during the talks, apparently to avoid affecting the negotiation process which ended Tuesday.

In a meeting with Korean residents here Thursday evening (local time), Roh also said South Korea's "unlimited" aid for North Korea will help create another efficient market in Northeast Asia, calling it a Marshall Plan-like investment. "We're often criticized for excessive aid shipments to North Korea. But let's look at the Marshall Plan. It was the United States' most effective post-war policy towards Europe. In the end, the U.S. was the very country that benefited the most from its huge aid for Europe."

The president then stressed that South Korea's investment in the North Korean industrial park in Kaesong, for instance, is expected to produce Marshall Plan-like effects.

"We've had to resolve North Korea's nuclear weapons problem at any price in order to be liberated from the yoke of history. North Korea will be able to grow into another efficient market in Northeast Asia through outside aid. So it should be deemed an investment," Roh said.

Roh arrived in Rome Wednesday for a three-day visit to Italy and the Vatican. He is scheduled to hold talks with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and a summit with Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Friday afternoon.

The president then reiterated his determination to strive for inter-Korean negotiations on the establishment of a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

"I'm on the side of optimism as far as North Korean problems are concerned. South and North Korea are still in a technical state of war. We're still left with the task to pave the legal ground for the termination of the war and peaceful cooperation," he stressed.

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.

Rome, Feb. 16 (Yonhap News)