Japan, OSCE agree N. Korea nuclear test poses global security challenge

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TOKYO, June 11 Kyodo -
Japan and members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
agreed that the North Korean nuclear and missile issues pose not only a problem
for Northeast Asia but a global security challenge, a Japanese Foreign Ministry
official said Thursday.
During the two-day Japan-OSCE conference that ended the same day and focused on
military transparency and other issues, many European countries also expressed
their eagerness to promote exchanges between the OSCE and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum, a security forum for the Asia-Pacific
region, to share their experiences.
The third Japan-OSCE conference was attended by officials from 45 countries,
including OSCE member states, such as the United States and Russia, and the
group's Asian cooperation partners, such as South Korea and Mongolia.
The OSCE is the world's largest regional security organization with 56 member
states, including European countries and the former Soviet republics. Japan is
one of the cooperation partner states. The first and second Japan-OSCE
conferences were held in 2000 and 2004 in Tokyo.
The ministry official said Japan, South Korea and Mongolia called on the
international community to take action against Pyongyang in the wake of its
recent nuclear test.
During the conference, the participants also held discussions on energy
security and civil society development.
Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test on May 25, its second test and first since
2006. The country has also said it will quit the six-party talks aimed at
curbing its nuclear program in protest against a U.N. Security Council
statement condemning its rocket launch in April.
==Kyodo
2009-06-11 20:52:29