Ministers of Asia, Latin America urge N. Korea to denuclearize

By Byun Duk-kun
TOKYO, Jan. 17 (Yonhap) -- Foreign ministers of 34 East Asian and Latin American
nations on Sunday called on North Korea to quickly return to six-way talks over
its nuclear programs.
"We recognized the importance of the full implementation of the September 2005
Joint Statement through early resumption of the six-party talks," the ministers
said in a joint declaration issued at the end of their two-day meeting in Tokyo.
The ministers from 16 Asian nations, including South Korea, Japan and China, and
18 Latin American countries were brought together under the Forum for East
Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), the only regular forum between the
regions.
The call was made under an initiative of South Korea, whose Foreign Minister Yu
Myung-hwan sought to win international support for an early resumption of the
North Korea nuclear talks that were last held in December 2008.
North Korea said in April that it will permanently quit the talks that also
involve South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia, but said last
week that it may return to the stalled talks if international sanctions on the
country are first removed.
Yu and Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada made it clear in their bilateral
talks here Saturday that their countries will oppose removing the U.N.-imposed
sanctions until Pyongyang returns to the six-nation talks and makes significant
progress toward denuclearization.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, too, agreed to seek an early resumption of
the nuclear negotiations in a bilateral meeting with his South Korean counterpart
here Sunday.
FEALAC ministers vowed efforts to halt proliferation of nuclear weapons.
"We will cooperate to ensure the successful outcome of the 2010 Review Conference
of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclear weapons so as to
strengthen the treaty's regime," the declaration said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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