Difference equations of quantum current operators and quantum parafermion construction

For the current realization of the affine quantum groups, a simple comultiplication for the quantum current operators was given by Drinfeld. With this comultiplication, we prove that, for the integrable modules of $U_q(\hat {\frak sl}(2))$ of level $k+1$, $x^\pm(z)x^\pm(zq^{\pm 2}) \cdot\cdot\cdot x^\pm(zq^{\pm 2k})$ are vertex operators satisfying certain q-difference equations, and we derive the quantum parafermions of $U_q(\hat {\frak sl}(2))$.