ASEAN, EU foreign ministers condemn N. Korean nuclear test

+

PHNOM PENH, May 28 Kyodo -
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the
European Union ended two days of talks in Phnom Penh on Thursday with a
condemnation of North Korea for its recent underground nuclear test.
A co-chairmen's statement said ministers of the two regional bodies ''condemned
the recent underground nuclear test'' by North Korea and were concerned over
its impact on the international nonproliferation regime.
It said North Korea's nuclear test and its recent missile launches ''constitute
clear and continued violations'' of U.N. Security Council resolutions as well
as a denuclearization accord that had been concluded among North and South
Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
The ministers '' strongly urged the DPRK to comply fully with the UNSC
resolutions and decisions and refrain from further actions which could
exacerbate the situation,'' it said, using an acronym for the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea, the country's official name.
Cambodia, as the host of the gathering, and the Czech Republic, as the current
EU president, co-chaired the 17th ASEAN-Europe Ministerial Meeting, a forum for
direct dialogue between the 10-member ASEAN and the 27-member EU that was first
held in 1978.
The gathering that began Wednesday also focused on the global economic crisis,
political security, climate change, food and energy security, terrorism,
transnational crime and the situation in Myanmar.
The statement merely said the ministers had ''exchanged views'' on recent
developments relating to Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who
has been detained since 2003 and is now on trial for having allegedly violated
her detention order.
The ministers, it said, ''called for the early release of those under detention
and the lifting of restrictions placed on political parties.''
At the same time, the statement noted that Myanmar's representative to the
meeting urged other countries not interfere in his country's internal affairs.
In a presentation given at the meeting, Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Maung
Myint insisted the ongoing trial of Suu Kyi inside a Yangon prison is an
internal legal matter, not a political or human rights issue, and said, ''We
don't accept the pressure and interference from abroad.''
Suu Kyi has been on trial since May 18 over a case in which an American man
entered her lakeside compound by swimming across a lake on May 3 and stayed
there for two days.
==Kyodo