1.      Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ban Ki-moon, had telephone talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs 
of China, Li Zhaoxing, on September 13, for discussions on the recent incidents involving the ROK's nuclear-
related experiments and the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.

2.      Regarding the recent incidents involving the ROK's nuclear-related experiments, Minister Ban 
expressed his concerns that unverified suspicions raised by some recent reports in the media are 
damaging the ROK's transparency in nuclear-related issues, and reaffirmed that the recent experiments 
were scientific studies by some scientists and that they are completely irrelevant to enrichment or 
reprocessing program for developing nuclear weapons.  Minister Ban clarified that the ROK government is 
fully cooperating with the IAEA for an objective and transparent inquiry into the matter and will continue to 
do so.

3.      In this vein, Minister Ban expressed his hope that the ROK and China will maintain close consultations 
at the IAEA Board of Governors' Meeting, which is scheduled to begin in Vienna today, and asked the 
Chinese side for its understanding in and support for the ROK's position.

4.      In response, Minister Li said that he will have the Chinese delegation participating in the IAEA Board of 
Governors' Meeting maintain close consultations with the ROK delegation.  He also noted the ROK 
government's full cooperation with the IAEA and hoped that this issue would be resolved through continued 
cooperations.

5.      The two ministers also shared the view that this issue must not interfere with the Six-Party Talks 
process on the North Korean nuclear issue.

                                                                   Spokesperson of MOFAT

* unofficial translation