Leaders of the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation economies, meeting in Hanoi for the group's 14th summit, issued a joint demand Sunday that North Korea dismantle its nuclear weapons program. The bloc described Pyongyang's recent nuclear test as a direct threat to regional peace and called for the upcoming six-party negotiations in Beijing to produce concrete results.
The five other parties to those December talks, South Korea, China, the United States, Russia, and Japan, all had heads of government present in Hanoi. Japan's government spokesman Mitsuo Sakaba stressed that any agreement must include international inspections to verify disarmament, saying his country could not consider the talks a success without them.
While unity on the goal of denuclearization was apparent, disagreements surfaced over enforcing UN sanctions. President George Bush and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe backed aggressive measures, including cargo ship inspections. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed support for the Proliferation Security Initiative's aims but declined to commit to full participation.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who dispatched a senior diplomat to Pyongyang that week, backed firm pressure. "Pressure has to be put on North Korea to denuclearize the peninsula," he said.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in November 2006, in its own words.