[imText1]Foreign ministers from a major group of Southeast Asian countries and Northeast Asian powers expressed concern Thursday over North Korea’s recent missile tests.
They also expressed the hope that this week’s high-profile regional security forum will help kick-start the resumption of the six-nation talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons ambitions.
“The ministers expressed their concern over the latest developments on the Korean Peninsula, which could affect peace and stability in the region, including the test-firing by DPRK (North Korea) of its Taepodong-2 missiles on July 5, 2006,” read a chairman’s press statement issued after the annual meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea, China and Japan.
The meeting, better known as ASEAN+3, preceded the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which also included top officials from North Korea, the United States, Russia, Australia, Canada and the European Union. The two-day ARF kicks off later in the day.
South Korea and its allies are trying hard to use the security conference to throw a lifeline to the moribund six-way talks.
The ASEAN+3 members also expressed support for the ongoing inter-Korean exchanges, saying they are expected to “continue to provide conditions that would be conducive to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”
South Korea’s joint ventures with the North have come under renewed attack from critics who are worried that the reclusive nation may be channeling money earned from inter-Korean businesses into the development of missiles and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
The critics argue that South Korea should halt the operation of the Kaesong industrial complex and tourism business to Mount Geumgang.
“I haven’t said that (for myself). I think every country needs to implement this Security Council resolution and be vigilant about preventing funds and preventing technology. But I am not going to tell the ROK (South Korea) how to be vigilant. I think the ROK knows how to do that,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said earlier.
He was referring to the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing limited sanctions against North Korea as a punishment for its missile activities.
Another ranking U.S. official, Stuart Levey, also said that South Korea’s money can be misused for the North’s weapons development, at least in theory.
“Money is fungible. So one would have to be careful to make sure that even the best proceeds of routine trade transactions could not benefit the WMD or missile programs,” Undersecretary of Treasury Levey, who is in charge of charge of terrorism and financial intelligence, told Yonhap News Agency by phone. But he added there was “a long way to go” to reach that conclusion.
His view came after he visited South Korea earlier this month.
