Asean Plus 3 press North Korea on nukes

CEBU — Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea, also known as ASEAN Plus Three, have stepped up pressure on North Korea to stop conducting nuclear tests and abandon its nuclear weapons program.

The call on the denuclearization of North Korea is also expected at the 2nd East Asia Summit today to be participated in by leaders from the 10-member ASEAN, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India and New Zealand.

South Korean President Roo Moo-hyun, however, sought to calm the ASEAN leaders’ worries over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, saying North Korea’s missiles have limited range.

In the ASEAN chairperson’s statement, the ASEAN leaders urged North Korea to take concrete and effective steps to implement the Sept. 19, 2005 joint statement of the Six-Party Talks and to rejoin at an early date the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

President Arroyo and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also urged North Korea to respond to other security and humanitarian concerns of the international community including abductions issue.

Abe said the return of Japanese citizens abducted by North Koreans was one of the primary concerns of his administration.

ASEAN leaders also called for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks involving China, Japan, South Korea, US, Russia and North Korea.

"We fully support the Six-Party Talks and other diplomatic efforts to resolve the Korean peninsula issue. At the same time we agreed that the international community must convey in clear terms to North Korea that it must denuclearize in a verifiable manner," the ASEAN leaders said.

ASEAN summit spokesperson Victoriano Lecaros said the ASEAN leaders also expressed appreciation for China’s efforts to convince Pyongyang to return to the Six-Party Talks.

"China said yes, because (countries) should not deal with North Korea through confrontation but diplomacy," he said.

The leaders also re-affirmed commitment to the full implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1695 and 1718 asking North Korea to drop its nuclear weapons program and tests for the sake of regional peace, security and stability.

Southeast Asian leaders also urged North Korea to cancel any plans for another nuclear test and to address the world’s humanitarian concerns about the secretive country.

"We emphasized that DPRK (North Korea) must effectively address the humanitarian concerns of the international community," the ASEAN leaders said.

The leaders reaffirmed their support for UN sanctions imposed after the North’s missile tests in July and its nuclear test on Oct. 9.

There have been recent reports that North Korea is preparing for a possible second nuclear test.

But most analysts expect it to await the outcome of the six-nation negotiations as well as separate talks on lifting US financial sanctions.

At a six-party session in September 2005, the North agreed in principle to scrap its atomic programs in exchange for economic and energy benefits and security guarantees.

But it boycotted the forum two months later in protest to the US financial sanctions, which were imposed for alleged money-laundering and counterfeiting.

The talks resumed in Beijing last month but ended without apparent progress or a date to meet again. - Aurea Calica, AFP