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North Korea calls on U.S. to sign peace treaty

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MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) - Pyongyang called on the United States to sign a peace treaty to resolve the North Korean nuclear problem.

If signed, the treaty would replace the Armistice Agreement and "considerably advance the upcoming six-sided talks on the nuclear problem," an official spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry said Friday.

"We hope the countries involved, including the U.S., will pay due attention to our legitimate request and give a positive answer," the Central Telegraph Agency of Korea (CTAK) cited the diplomat as saying. (Traditionally, the agency reports this kind of statement without mentioning names.)

The signing of the Armistice Agreement ended the Korean War (1950-1953). The signatories of the agreement were the commanders of the North Korean People's Army and the Chinese People's Volunteers, and the U.S., which fought under the aegis of the UN. South Korea refused to join the agreement.

An agreement on reconciliation, non-aggression, exchanges, and cooperation between the two Korean states was enacted in 1992. U.S.-North Korean relations have remained tense, and Washington still refuses even to discuss the idea of peace with Pyongyang, retaining its military contingent of several thousand in the South Korean Peninsula, observers say.

Six-sided talks on the North Korean nuclear problem between North and South Korea, the U.S., Russia, China, and Japan are scheduled to begin July 26 in Beijing.

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