South Korea Thursday greeted North Korea's delivery of the long-awaited declaration on its nuclear programme as an "important starting point" toward "full denuclearization" of its neighbour to the north.
Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan said the information submitted to the Chinese government earlier Thursday included key information on North Korea's nuclear activity, including its nuclear facilities and plutonium stockpile, the dpa reported.
" South Korea views it positively in that the declaration lays the foundation for dismantling the nuclear programme in the next phase," Yu told reporters in Seoul.
Yu said that the disclosure, combined with the US government's immediate move to lift some sanctions on Pyongyang, "will provide important momentum for the settlement of peace on the Korean Peninsula," an official at the presidential office was quoted by the national Yonhap news agency as saying.
"But we need to more calmly analyze the circumstances to be convinced that the latest development will lead to the complete dismantling of the communist state's nuclear programme," Yu said.