South Korea hopes North Korea and the United States can work together this year to substantially end the north's nuclear weapons ambitions and open the way for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to attend this year's meeting of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organization, a senior official said Sunday. "We hope that the North Korean leader can participate in this meeting," Chung Dong-young, South Korean minister for Korean unification, told business and government leaders attending the World Economic Forum. "The time for diplomacy is now," Chung said. He called on the United States to engage in a diplomatic dialogue saying a policy of containment _ as Washington has had for decades against Cuba _ does not work.
