By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter


U.N. General Assembly President Jean Ping said Wednesday that North Korea gave him a ``very positive message’’ regarding the stalled six-party talks and asked him to deliver it to the United States.

Ping, concurrently Gabon’s foreign minister, made the comment during a meeting with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, the ministry said in a press release. Both the ministry and Ping declined to give further details on the message.

The U.N. leader was also quoted as saying that North Korea wants ``co-existence’’ with the U.S.

Ping arrived in Seoul on Tuesday via China after a five-day visit to North Korea, during which he met the Stalinist country’s No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-nam, and Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun.

At a meeting later yesterday with Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon, Ping also said he is ``hopeful’’ about prospects for a resolution to the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear programs. Ban expressed his gratitude for the ``good news,’’ according to Foreign Ministry officials.

Ping said in Beijing on Monday that the North remains committed to the six-party talks aimed at resolving the 25-month standoff over its nuclear ambitions.

He also said North Korea had ``praised President Roh Moo-hyun’s recent remarks in Los Angeles,’’ the unification minister told reporters.

He was referring to Roh’s comments last week when he said Pyongyang was trying to develop nuclear weapons for self-defense. The statement triggered accusations from opposition parties in South Korea that the president was siding with the communist regime.

A senior South Korean official said Wednesday there were no signs of internal unrest in North Korea despite reports of a shift in the level of a personality cult surrounding leader Kim Jong-il.

``There are no signs of abnormal changes,’’ the official from the National Intelligence Service said during a National Assembly hearing.

The official, requesting anonymity, confirmed recent media reports that Kim’s portraits had been removed from some public places.

im@koreatimes.co.kr