by Xinhua writers Liu Chen, Guo Yina
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- It is important to have a high-level dialogue as soon as possible between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), former U.S. Defense Minister William Perry has said amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.
It is truly vital for the two countries to "conduct a serious negotiation aimed at bringing peace to the peninsula and bringing a non-nuclear peninsula into being as soon as possible," said Perry in an interview with Xinhua earlier this week.
Perry's remarks came after the United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously passed a resolution Saturday slapping new economic sanctions on the DPRK over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
"Sanctions in theory can be effective, but in practice usually are not," said Perry, who was the Pentagon chief in 1994-1997 under then President Bill Clinton.
The Security Council also seeks resumption of the six-party talks aimed at verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
"The six-party talks has a great merit involving all of the countries that are most concerned about the issue," said Perry, 89, who visited the DPRK as Clinton's special envoy in 1999.
"We need partnership to put together an effective, really effective diplomacy," said Perry.
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