Monday, December 14, 2009 SEOUL: The United States and North Korea agreed to discuss a peace treaty on the Korean peninsula at four-nation talks involving the two nations, China and South Korea, a news report said Sunday.The "common understanding" was reached when US envoy Stephen Bosworth visited Pyongyang from December 8 to 10, a news agency said, citing an unnamed Seoul official.A peace treaty would replace an armistice to formally end the 1950-1953 Korean War at which Communist North Korea, backed by Chinese troops, fought South Korea, supported by US-led UN troops.Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang was to persuade North Korea to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks -- which also group South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Pyongyang quit the talks in April.Though failing to set a date for the North's return to the six-party process, the US envoy said both sides agreed on the need to resume nuclear disarmament talks during what he termed "very useful" meetings.Bosworth met with top North Korean officials, including Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-Ju, in Pyongyang."I know that there has been a common understanding that four-party talks should be activated to discuss a peace regime if the six-party talks resume," an unnamed Seoul official told media."It was North Korea that first proposed to discuss a peace treaty at the four-nation talks, not US-North Korea dialogue, and the US agreed to it."Four-party talks refer to the defunct peace negotiation framework that existed from 1997 to 1999 among the two Koreas, the United States and China.North Korea had previously insisted that a peace treaty should be sealed through bilateral talks with the United States only. South Korea has rejected the North Korean idea.
Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...
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