SEOUL, March 11 -- South Korea's new government will start working on its ambitious project for North Korea's economic growth only when the denuclearization process makes "substantial progress," Yonhap news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying Tuesday.
In a policy report to President Lee Myung-bak, the ministry outlined the timing for implementation of the program, named "Denuclearization Opening 3000," a campaign platform of the conservative leader who took office late last month.
It aims to increase the impoverished communist neighbor's per capita income to US$3,000 within a decade in exchange for abandoning its nuclear programme.
The most urgent task is to secure the disabling of the North's main nuclear facilities and a complete declaration of its atomic weapons program, the ministry said.
The work to disable the plutonium-based nuclear complex in Yongbyon is proceeding slowly but the North has yet to provide a declaration acceptable to Washington.
After the North provides the declaration, related countries will verify it and initiate talks on dismantling its nuclear program the ministry said.
South Korea will "embark on preparations for implementing the aid project when the denuclearization makes substantial progress," it added.
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