From rxpgnews.com
APEC calls on Pyongyang to give up nukes
By DPA,
Nov 20, 2006 - 12:21:46 AM
Hanoi, Nov 19 (DPA) Asia-Pacific leaders issued a strong call for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme Sunday, saying upcoming six-party talks in Beijing should yield 'concrete and effective steps' to disarm Pyongyang after its nuclear test last month.
Meeting in Vietnam, the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit called North Korea's recent tests a 'clear threat' to peace and security in the region.
The North Korean nuclear issue has dominated the sidelines of the 14th APEC summit, as the leaders of the five countries wishing to engage in six-party talks with North Korea - South Korea, China, the US, Russia and Japan - are in Hanoi for the meeting.
The six-party talks are planned for early December in Beijing, and a Japanese government spokesperson, Mitsuo Sakaba, said that North Korea must not only commit to giving up its nuclear weapons' programme but submit to inspections to verify it is dismantling its current missiles.
'That is what we want at the beginning,' Sakaba said Sunday. 'They abandon nuclear weapons and accept international inspections.'
While leaders were united in the goal of disarming Pyongyang, disagreement over how to implement the United Nations' punitive sanctions on North Korea continued at the APEC summit.
US President George Bush met with the leaders of Japan and South Korea at the summit Saturday to express a common front on North Korea, but admitted differences on how much pressure to apply ahead of six-party talks.
Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed for tougher tactics, including interception and inspections of cargo ships.
However, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun stopped short of pledging full participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) inspections aimed at enforcing UN sanctions on North Korea passed after its nuclear test last month.
Following his meeting with Bush, Roh said South Korea supports the goals of the security initiative but 'is not taking part in the full scope of the PSI.'
However, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has sent a senior diplomat to Pyongyang this week to deliver a message of international resolve, also called for strong punitive measures under the UN sanctions to keep the heat on ahead of the talks.
'Pressure has to be put on North Korea to denuclearise the peninsula,' Harper said.
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