SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Pyongyang's security concern must be solved, former President Kim Dae-jung was quoted by Yonhap News assaying on Thursday here.

　　"Pyongyang needs to completely scrap its nuclear program, and the United States must guarantee security for Pyongyang. The other involving four nations must also endorse the agreement between the two," Kim said in his address to a forum titled the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations in Seoul.

　　His remarks came before the six-party nuclear talks to be held in Beijing on Aug. 27-29, which will be attended by the United States, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), China, South Korea, Russia and Japan.

　　Although Washington has not officially accepted the DPRK's calls for one-on-one talks, officials and analysts believe the two countries will likely hold bilateral negotiations on the sidelines of the six-party dialogue in Beijing.

　　Kim, who made his first public speech since stepping down in February, added that the Aug. 27-29 talks must succeed and the settlement of the Washington-Pyongyang confrontation is necessary to secure peace on the Korean Peninsula.

　　The former president, the founder of the reconciliation and rapprochement "Sunshine Policy" toward the DPRK, commented on his historic summit meeting with the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong IL in year 2000, which led to the increasing of inter-Korean exchanges.

　　"Nonetheless, the Korean Peninsula is the focus of tension in Northeast Asia as well as around the world. This is due to the confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington," Kim said.

　　(Aug. 21, Xinhuanet)