By Yoon Won-sup
South Korea and the United States on Wednesday welcomed North Korea’s reiteration on Tuesday that it is willing to freeze its nuclear programs.

``We positively evaluate the North Korean statement because it stated specifically what measures it would take, and confirmed once again its willingness to tackle the issue through dialogue,’’ Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Yoon Young-kwan said.

Yoon said the North’s statement will help create a conducive atmosphere for a new round of six-party talks, which has been put off since last August.

Regarding the visit of a U.S. group to North Korea, Yoon noted that it is a private visit unrelated to the U.S. government.

``We need to watch carefully whether the North will allow the U.S. delegation access to its nuclear complex in Yongbyon,’’ he said. The delegation is expected to stay in North Korea until Jan. 10 and then visit South Korea afterwards.

The Yongbyon complex is at the heart of the standoff, and there has been no outside access to the facility since North Korea expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors at the end of 2002.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the statement was a positive development. ``North Korea, in effect, said it won’t test, and they implied that they would give up all aspects of their nuclear program, not just weapons program,’’ he said.

Powell expressed hope that the proposal will help the long-awaited six-party talks move more rapidly.

Meanwhile, North Korea renewed its call for the United States to accept its package solution to break the 14-month nuclear impasse.

``The U.S. administration should respond to this magnanimity in good faith,’’ the KCNA, Pyongyang’s news agency, said in a commentary, referring to the North’s latest offers.

In a KCNA report monitored here Tuesday, North Korea said it ``is set to refrain from testing and production of nuclear weapons

and even stop operating the nuclear power industry used for peaceful purposes as first-phase measures in the package solution.’’

yoonwonsup@koreatimes.co.kr