Asia, Europe ministers urge N. Korean action on denuclearization


Tuesday May 29, 6:47 AM
Asia, Europe ministers urge N. Korean action on denuclearization
(Kyodo) _ Foreign ministers from Asia and Europe were united in
pressing North Korea to move to dispel global concerns about its
nuclear ambitions as they began two days of talks here Monday.
They made the pitch at the meeting over dinner in Hamburg in view of
Pyongyang's failure to meet nuclear disarmament obligations under a
Feb. 13 six-party deal, a Japanese official said.

"It is regrettable that North Korea hasn't carried out the initial
steps (for denuclearization as sought in the six-way deal)," Japanese
Foreign Minister Taro Aso was quoted as saying at the Asia-Europe
Meeting talks.

"Our patience is not unlimited and it is necessary to take further
action if the situation requires," he was quoted as saying, referring
to additional sanctions on North Korea.

North Korea has failed to meet the April 14 deadline to shut down a
key nuclear reactor as promised under the Feb. 13 agreement with the
United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

Pyongyang is refusing to take the steps and to return to the six-party
talks until it can confirm the release of the North Korea-related $25
million in funds frozen at Banco Delta Asia SARL.

In addition to the nuclear issue, Aso called for a coordinated
international stance on Pyongyang's decades-old abductions of Japanese
nationals, the Japanese official said.

North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had abducted and taken to its
territory 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, saying eight of
them are dead.

Tokyo and Pyongyang are at odds over the number of Japanese nationals
North Korean agents abducted, as well as the fates of some of the
abductees. Tokyo has 17 people on its list of abductees with five of
them having been repatriated.

The ASEM foreign ministers also discussed the situations in
Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq on Monday, to be followed by further
discussions Tuesday on other issues such as climate change and
terrorism.

The talks bring together officials of 16 countries and the Secretariat
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from Asia and 27 nations
and the European Commission, the European Union's executive branch.

Starting the latest talks, five countries -- India, Pakistan,
Mongolia, Bulgaria and Romania -- as well as the secretariat of the 10-
member ASEAN have been accepted into the ASEM framework.

ASEM previously grouped the 25 member states of the European Union,
the ASEAN members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- and
Japan, China and South Korea. The European Commission is also a
member.

The ASEM gathering comes ahead of a meeting in Potsdam on Wednesday of
foreign ministers from the Group of Eight powers --Britain, Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The G-8 meeting, expected to discuss aid for Africa, the North Korean
nuclear standoff and Afghanistan's reconstruction efforts, is to lay
the groundwork for the G-8 summit on June 6-8.

The G-8 ministers will also hold talks with the foreign ministers of
Afghanistan and Pakistan on the economic development and stability of
the two countries.

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