[News Briefing] No timetable for resuming six-party talks

Posted on : 2010-09-14 14:10 KST Modified on : 2010-09-14 14:10 KST
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“The U.S. is not interested in talking just for the sake of talking with the North Koreans,” said Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, on Monday. “We want negotiations that produce meaningful results. So, we will be looking for indications that North Korea shares that desire and that determination.”

“We look for North Korea’s attitude to be expressed through its actions, not simply through its rhetoric,” Bosworth told reporters after talks with South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy, Wi Sung-lac.

Regarding the time of resumption of six-party talks, he stressed the U.S. did not have a specific timetable, and said in terms of the circumstance, “We are neither optimistic nor pessimistic.”  

Meanwhile, working-level Red Cross officials from North Korea and South Korea plan to hold talks in North Korea’s border town of Kaesong on Sept. 17 to discuss arranging reunions of separated families, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Monday.

 


S. Korea most dependent on international trade
The principal global indicators (PGI) by organizations including the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Bank showed exports accounted for 43.4 percent of South Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, the highest among G-20 nations.

The imports account for 38.8 percent of South Korea’s GDP, also the highest of the G-20 nations. Accordingly, South Korea has the highest trade dependence rate in the developed world.

South Korea is expected to be one of the world’s 10 largest exporters for a second consecutive year and move up two notches to seventh place depending on its performance in the second half, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said Tuesday.

The outlook comes as the amount of the country’s overseas shipments in the first half of the year was ranked as the world‘s seventh-largest at $221.5 billion.

 

U.S. beef shipments to S. Korea skyrocket

U.S. beef shipments to South Korea are expected to increase dramatically next year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported Monday. Exports are expected to increase due to declining concerns over mad cow disease among consumers in South Korea, the fourth biggest market for U.S. beef.

Next year, U.S. beef exports to South Korea will likely soar 24 percent to 136,000 from 110,000 tons estimated for this year, the USDA said in a report. This year’s estimate is based on the whopping 130 percent rise to 50,221 tons worth $225 million in the first half, according to figures from the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

   

More companies delisted from S.Korean stock market

The number of companies delisted from the South Korean stock market is expected to reach its highest level in more than a decade this year due to stricter delisting standards, bourse operators said Monday.

According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), as many as 80 companies were ordered to delist their shares from the main stock market (KOSPI) and the secondary market (KOSDAQ), as of Friday.