By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

North Korea aims at acquiring observer status at the World Trade Organization (WTO), an eight-member EU parliamentarian delegation which recently visited Pyongyang said at a news conference in Seoul Friday.

``We are aware that North Korea is in contact with the WTO secretariat for technical advice,’’ said Glyn Ford, a member of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula. He and seven other members visited North Korea July 9-14.

South Korea’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry said it was unaware of such a move by Pyongyang.

A ministry official, however, said that the possibility is ``very low’’ that Pyongyang will gain observer status as there are too many hurdles the communist state has to jump.

``It will be very difficult for North Korea to get the status as the member states of the WTO will require Pyongyang to open its economic system,’’ he said, declining to be named. ``If North Korea wants to get the status, Pyongyang would have to change its whole picture of society.’’

Ford indicated that North Korea could get the status, given that it was created to enable Iraq to join the trade body. He added that the requirements for the WTO membership as an observer are ``rather vague.’’

Iraq was granted the status, a first step to gaining full membership of the trade body, with a unanimous decision made by the 146 member states of the WTO at a meeting in Geneva in February last year.

It was possible largely thanks to Washington’s full-fledged support. In the Geneva meeting, the U.S. blocked Iran’s bid for observer status for the fifteenth time. Together with North Korea, Iran was dubbed by Washington to be an axis of evil.

Observers are not able to have a formal say in WTO decisions but can attend meetings and hold talks with member countries.

After the end of the media conference, Ford told The Korea Times that North Korea’s hope for the observer status could be understood as a ``political signal,’’ meaning that it wants to achieve economic integration with the world.

The European Parliament delegation also said that no quick breakthrough is expected from the nuclear talks on North Korea later this month because the positions of Washington and Pyongyang remain wide apart.

``We expect there is no quick and easy result,’’ said Ursula Stenzel, who led the delegation to Pyongyang. ``They want to survive. The nuclear issue is one of the instruments for them to achieve this goal.’’

She said that the delegation did not get any reaction from North Korean officials on South Korea’s recent proposal of energy aid in exchange for Pyongyang’s dismantlement of nuclear programs.

``They didn’t mention the new offer in our presence at all,’’ she said.

The delegation urged North Korea and the U.S. to enable a speedy resolution of the current crisis through Washington’s offer to resume the supply of heavy fuel oil in return for Pyongyang’s verifiable freezing of nuclear programs to avoid further deterioration of the security situation.

The European Parliament’s delegation for the Korean Peninsula was established in 2004.

im@koreatimes.co.kr