UNITED NATIONS, July 25 (Xinhuanet) -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that resolving the nuclear and related security issues of the Korean Peninsula must be given pressing priority and a diplomatic solution is both imperative and realistic.

　　In a statement to mark the 50th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice Agreement, Annan said there is a strong international consensus that the Korean peninsula should be free of nuclear weapons. The countries of the region have declared their willingness to address the matter jointly, through peaceful means.

　　"I urge all the parties to work determinedly towards a peaceful,negotiated solution, including through an early resumption of the Beijing talks," he said.

　　Annan noted that resolving the current stand-off must be the first step towards a permanent resolution of the Korean conflict, and only a comprehensive settlement will prevent the recurrence ofnew crises.

　　"Such an agreement will have to cover a wide range of security,military, political, human rights and economic issues, culminatingin a peace treaty. There is a need to set out a vision of, and prepare for, the full economic integration of the DPRK with the rest of the international community. We will not succeed in this undertaking without considerable patience, perseverance and political will," he added.

　　He promised that his personal envoy will intensify efforts to help avert a humanitarian calamity in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), defuse current tensions and prepare for a new era of peaceful development.

　　Annan said the Armistice Agreement, signed on 27 July 1953, brought an end to the Korean War and its untold suffering. But 50 years later today, the Korean conflict remains unresolved, with widespread fear and mistrust and families still divided.

　　Annan said the 50th anniversary offers an opportunity to disperse the ominous cloud that has for long threatened the stability and prosperity of the Korean peninsula.

　　"The current controversy over the nuclear weapons program of DPRK is a sobering reminder of the risks that this unfinished business poses to the region, to the world at large, and, above all, to the people of both Koreas, who most directly bear the burden of the differences that divide their homeland and today raise the specter of a new conflagration," Annan said. Enditem