A top North Korean leader on Thursday reaffirmed his nation’s intention to disarm, calling a nuclear-free Korean peninsula the “dying wish” of former dictator Kim Il Sung. Kim Yong Nam, the North’s second-in-command, said his regime “will make efforts to realize” that wish.

AP:

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s No. 2 leader pledged his country’s commitment Thursday to giving up its nuclear program amid intensifying diplomacy aimed at implementing Pyongyang’s pledge to disarm.

“The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the dying wish” of the country’s late founding president Kim Il Sung, Kim Yong Nam said in Pyongyang during a visit from a high-level South Korean delegation.

The North “will make efforts to realize it,” he said.

At the meeting, South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung pressed the North to implement a Feb. 13 pledge made with the U.S. and four other countries to take initial steps to disarm.

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#china#disarmament#japan#north korea#nuclear#proliferation