New Zealand / Politics

'We want to know that it's bona fide' - Peters on Korean peace plan

10:27 am on 2 May 2018

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters is not ruling out an official visit to North Korea if he is invited.

Deputy PM and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski

The leaders of North and South Korea vowed to work towards peace between their countries, as well as ridding the peninsula of nuclear weapons.

As special envoy to North Korea a decade ago - appointed by then-US Foreign Secretary Condoleezza Rice - Mr Peters successfully negotiated a deal that delayed the construction of a missile launching pad.

Mr Peters would not disclose whether he has had an invitation to carry out a similar role.

He said while the recent developments were a good start, more information on the plans was needed.

"We want to know that it's bona fide, it's in good faith, it's going to be real and at the end of it, you see a denuclearised Korean peninsula."

Mr Peters has said New Zealand would do all it could to support the peace process, and a long term outcome would be to have economic engagement with North Korea.