SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Xinhuanet, by Wang Mian) -- South Korean government is busy on evaluation on announcement of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of suspending participation of the six-party nuclear talks for unlimited period and possessing of nuclear arms on Thursday.

    Hours after the DPRK's Korean Central News Agency released an article of the DPRK's Foreign Ministry's statement, Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade also issued a statement, urging Pyongyang to return to the six-party nuclear talks immediately.

    "Pyongyang has expressed intention of maintain nuclear free of the Korean Peninsula and peacefully resolve the nuclear issue, butthe DPRK's remarks on strengthening its nuclear capability are nothelpful for the resolution of (the nuclear issue)," the spokesmanof the MOFAT Lee Kyu-hyung said in a statement.

    The MOFAT also urged the DPRK to attend the six-party nuclear talks without any conditions, adding "if DPRK and the United States have differences, they should narrow them in the talks."

    The South Korean's National Security Council also held emergentmeeting, discussing countermeasures to Pyongyang's Thursday's declaration, on Thursday afternoon.

    Moreover, according to South Korean media reports, some Seoul officials and DPRK issue experts viewed Pyongyang's announcement as"nothing especially new." They noted the DPRK has made similar statements many times before.

    "Despite the North's claims that it has nuclear weapons, it is true that other members of the six-party talks have been indifferent to those claims so far," a government official was quoted by South Korean Yonhap News Agency as saying.

    "Today's remarks are thought to contain the North's hopes that other countries will give credit to its claim and that the United States will start offering high-priced concessions," he said.

    Some analyst also noted that in Thursday's statement, the DPRK said it would boycott the six-party talks "until...there are ampleconditions and an atmosphere to expect positive results from the talks."

    Experts took this part as an indirect call for Washington to promise concessions ahead of new negotiations.

    While on the another part of the announcement which said Pyongyang "manufactured nukes", Seoul said it will continue close cooperation with the United States to precisely evaluate the DPRK's nuclear capability.

    Pyongyang's Thursday declaration also was thought to be first formal reaction to the State of the Union address made by US reelected President George W. Bush by local media.

    On Feb. 2, Bush said he was "working closely with governments in Asia to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions,"which raised hope here of early resumption of the stalled nuclear talks.

    The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula erupted in October 2002, when a senior US official said Pyongyang had told him it hada secret uranium-enriching program to make weapons.

    In early 2003, the DPRK announced drop-out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    Up to now, three rounds of six-party nuclear talks aimed to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue have been held in Beijing. But citing US hostile policy, Pyongyang refused to attend the fourth round of the multilateral talks scheduled to be held last September.

    The six participants of the meeting are China, the DPRK, US, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

    South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon left Seoul for Washington just hours before the DPRK's Thursday announcement. He was scheduled to meet his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice on next Monday.

    South Korean media speculated the discussion between the two top diplomats to be focus on how to respond to the DPRK's statement. Enditem