The first main session of the 15th Inter-Korean Ministerial Meeting was held Wednesday at the Sheraton Walker Hotel in eastern Seoul with discussions on many topics including the six-party talks on the nuclear issue.

"We would not have nuclear weapons if the United States did not have a hostile policy toward the DPRK," senior DPRK cabinet councilor Kwon Ho Ung was quoted by Kim Cheon-sik, spokesman of the South Korean delegation to the talks, as saying in the main session of the talks.

DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Il made similar remarks during a meeting with South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young in Pyongyang last week.

Kim Jong Il also was quoted by Chung as saying the "DPRK is willing to rejoin the six-party nuclear talks even in July, if the US recognizes and respects" Pyongyang.

In response, Chung called for DPRK's cooperation to ensure that a new round of six-party talks will be convened in July, Kim Cheon- sik said.

In the 110-minute main session, South Korean delegation proposed to resume the inter-Korean general-level military talks in July and to hold inter-Korean defense chief's meeting to build mutual trust, according to Kim.

South Korea also proposed a Red Cross meeting in July to discuss ways to locate South Korean prisoners of war (POW) of the Korean War (1950-1953) still in the DPRK and South Koreans kidnapped by the DPRK.

South Korea also called for inter-Korean aviation discussion.

Meanwhile, the DPRK delegation said it will send an influential official to South Korean in August to attend the joint celebration marking the 60th anniversary of liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japan's colonial rule.

The DPRK side proposed to resume the reunions of separated family members at the DPRK's Geumgang mountain and let more separated family members meet each other through videophone in August, according to Kim.

The DPRK delegation also proposed to make cooperation with South Korea in agriculture and fishery.

According to local news TV channel YTN, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun is to meet the DPRK's delegation Thursday afternoon.

It will be the first time that Roh meets DPRK's delegation to the inter-Korean ministerial talks.

The five-member DPRK team arrived in South Korea on Tuesday afternoon aboard a DPRK flight.

South Korea and DPRK agreed to reopen the inter-Korean ministerial talks, the highest channel of dialogue between the two countries, in May after 11-month suspension.

Source: Xinhua