World Powers to Meet on Iran Nuclear Issue

World powers are set to meet Thursday in Paris to discuss the next steps in addressing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Representatives from Germany and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members: the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, plan to consider ways to discourage Iran from enriching uranium.

The meeting falls a day after Iran said it test-fired a new generation missile, the Sejil, capable of striking Israel and southeastern Europe with greater precision.

The United States condemned the test as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

In a separate development, South Korea's Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan has called on Iran to restore international confidence in its nuclear activities, following talks with his Iranian counterpart in Seoul Thursday. 

Iran says nuclear program pursues peaceful purpose

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the South Korean official that Tehran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Mottaki arrived in Seoul from North Korea where he met Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun and other top officials.

It was not immediately clear if the officials discussed Iran's missile test.

Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar has said the combined-solid fuel surface-to-surface Sejil missile has a range of two-thousand kilometers. But he added that the weapon was only meant for defensive purposes.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood says he would not be surprised if the test-firing of the missile comes up during the Paris meeting Thursday. 

Wood and Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman both say the test underlines the importance of a missile defense shield in Europe - an issue that has put Washington at odds with Moscow.