ID :
68159
Mon, 06/29/2009 - 08:56
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/68159
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Lee, Aso call for strict implementation of sanctions on N. Korea
By Byun Duk-kun
TOKYO, June 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Sunday called for the strict implementation of U.N. sanctions against North Korea, saying Pyongyang must realize that its possession of nuclear weapons will never be tolerated.
The joint call came in a summit held here during Lee's one-day trip to Tokyo.
"We two heads of state agreed that all member nations of the United Nations must
fully implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874 to make North Korea realize
it will not achieve any of its intended goals through nuclear tests or missile
launches," Lee said at a joint press conference with the Japanese prime minister.
The resolution, passed shortly after North Korea conducted its second atomic test
on May 25, prohibits U.N. member states from heavy weapons trade with the North
and calls on the nations to inspect North Korean vessels suspected of carrying
banned items.
Pyongyang has warned any such inspection will be considered an act of war.
"We reaffirmed that North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons can never be
accepted under any circumstances," Lee told the press conference.
Sunday's summit came amid North Korea's boycott of multilateral talks on ending
its nuclear ambitions.
The leaders said they have agreed to seek five-way consultations among the other
participants of the six-nation talks, which also include the United States, China
and Russia, "to seek ways to denuclearize North Korea."
North Korea may regard the U.N. sanctions and the five-way talks as retaliation,
but the true aim is to make North Korea engage in peaceful dialogue, Lee said.
North Korea declared in April it was rejecting the six-party nuclear disarmament
talks after the United Nations condemned its launch of a long-range rocket
earlier that month. The launch was widely believed to be a disguised test of an
inter-continental ballistic missile.
Lee and Aso, in their eighth bilateral talks since the Japanese prime minister
came into office in September, also agreed to boost economic ties between their
countries, calling for the early signing of a mutually beneficial free trade
agreement, according to the South Korean presidential office.
Lee also sought to win Tokyo's support in ending discrimination against ethnic
Koreans in Japan.
"President Lee asked for the Japanese prime minister's active cooperation to help
Korean residents in Japan gain suffrage," his office in a press release.
There are nearly 500,000 ethnic Koreans living in the island nation, most of whom
are descendants of Koreans brought to Japan for forced labor during Japan's
colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in the first half of the 20th century.
TOKYO, June 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Sunday called for the strict implementation of U.N. sanctions against North Korea, saying Pyongyang must realize that its possession of nuclear weapons will never be tolerated.
The joint call came in a summit held here during Lee's one-day trip to Tokyo.
"We two heads of state agreed that all member nations of the United Nations must
fully implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874 to make North Korea realize
it will not achieve any of its intended goals through nuclear tests or missile
launches," Lee said at a joint press conference with the Japanese prime minister.
The resolution, passed shortly after North Korea conducted its second atomic test
on May 25, prohibits U.N. member states from heavy weapons trade with the North
and calls on the nations to inspect North Korean vessels suspected of carrying
banned items.
Pyongyang has warned any such inspection will be considered an act of war.
"We reaffirmed that North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons can never be
accepted under any circumstances," Lee told the press conference.
Sunday's summit came amid North Korea's boycott of multilateral talks on ending
its nuclear ambitions.
The leaders said they have agreed to seek five-way consultations among the other
participants of the six-nation talks, which also include the United States, China
and Russia, "to seek ways to denuclearize North Korea."
North Korea may regard the U.N. sanctions and the five-way talks as retaliation,
but the true aim is to make North Korea engage in peaceful dialogue, Lee said.
North Korea declared in April it was rejecting the six-party nuclear disarmament
talks after the United Nations condemned its launch of a long-range rocket
earlier that month. The launch was widely believed to be a disguised test of an
inter-continental ballistic missile.
Lee and Aso, in their eighth bilateral talks since the Japanese prime minister
came into office in September, also agreed to boost economic ties between their
countries, calling for the early signing of a mutually beneficial free trade
agreement, according to the South Korean presidential office.
Lee also sought to win Tokyo's support in ending discrimination against ethnic
Koreans in Japan.
"President Lee asked for the Japanese prime minister's active cooperation to help
Korean residents in Japan gain suffrage," his office in a press release.
There are nearly 500,000 ethnic Koreans living in the island nation, most of whom
are descendants of Koreans brought to Japan for forced labor during Japan's
colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in the first half of the 20th century.
