Asia-Pacific powers voice 'strong concern' over NKorea test
APEC nations expressed their "strong concern" Sunday at North Korea's nuclear test and urged it to resume disarmament talks, in a statement read behind closed doors to leaders here at the end of a regional summit.
Officials said the joint statement by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum endorsed UN sanctions against the regime.
Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet, the summit chairman, read out the text to other leaders of the 21-member APEC, which includes the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
But APEC shied away from a public statement on the crisis, which was the subject of hectic diplomacy to agree on the wording, with the United States and Japan pushing for condemnation of the Stalinist regime.
"We reiterate our commitment to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, and our resolve toward a peaceful resolution of the North Korea nuclear issue," said the statement read by Triet, said a source.
"We express our strong concern over the July 4-5 missile launches and October 9 nuclear test conducted by the DPRK (North Korea), which poses a clear threat to our shared interest of peace and security and our shared goal of achieving a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula."
The APEC forum said: "We emphasize our strong support for the Six-Party Talks and are encouraged by the recent progress on resuming the talks," referring to negotiations involving the United States China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas that stalled a year ago.
The statement called for "concrete and effective steps toward full implementation" of a September 2005 commitment by North Korea to halt its weapons drive in return for trade and security guarantees.
Agence France Presse Hanoi
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