``While in office, I will surely put an end to the 54-year-old cold war structure on the Korean peninsula,'' Kim said late Saturday after his summit diplomacy at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Kim took up office in early 1998 for a five-year term.

His upbeat statement followed the easing of United States sanctions against N Korea in exchange for Pyongyang's pledge to end long-range missile tests, a deal agreed at bilateral talks in Berlin. ``The breakthrough in the Berlin talks was a meaningful start. It opened a door to peace,'' Kim said.

He called for concerted efforts by South Korea, Japan and the United States to extract a promise from Stalinist North Korea to end provocative military moves, and its nuclear weapons and missile programme.

``I will pursue a consistentgive-and-take policy to accomplish the prime goal of securing peace, exchanges and cooperation between the two Koreas,'' said Kim, who has pursued a ``sunshine'' policy of engagement with the isolationist North.

During his nine-day trip to New Zealand and Australia, kim met United States President Bill Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi to work out a joint policy towards North Korea.