North Korea officially announced on July 5 that it had conducted test launches of ballistic missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2, and claimed it was the country's sovereign right.
"There is a pressing need to restart the negotiating process as soon as possible," he told a news conference.
He said Chinese President Hu Jintao had briefed a meeting of G8 leaders on the results of negotiations with North Korea and expressed cautious optimism that the North Korean problem could be resolved through diplomacy: "by creating conditions for securing the peninsula's status as a nuclear-free zone and attaining agreement on the missile issue."
Six-nation talks involving North and South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and the United States on resolving the problems around North Korea's controversial nuclear programs opened in 2003 but a round has not been held for over six months.
