South Korea would not want to see a sudden collapse of communist North Korea, Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan said on Monday, as he called on the impoverished state to abandon nuclear weapons and open up to the outside world. The end of communist rule in former East Germany had highlighted the problems associated with a sudden political change, Lee told reporters after meeting Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel during a visit to Europe. "In no way do we want a collapse of North Korea," Lee said in response to a question. "We have learned from the collapse of the GDR (the former German Democratic Republic) that it is not desirable to have a collapse of North Korea." "This is the common view of China, Japan and the United States as well," he said speaking through an interpreter. "The common view is that North Korea should abandon its nuclear weapons programme and should open up." South and North Korea are technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. North Korea is one of the region's poorest, most isolated countries.
