BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei: North Korea came under fire at an Asia-Pacific security forum yesterday as foreign ministers called on the defiant communist state to end its nuclear weapons programme.
In a flurry of diplomatic activity, the gathering in Brunei also saw Beijing pressured over its South China Sea claims while the top US and Russian envoys met to discuss the thorny issues of Syria and US fugitive Edward Snowden.
Participants in the Asean Regional Forum, which include 26 countries across the Asia-Pacific and the EU, sent a “very strong message” to North Korea, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se said.
“Most ministers at the meeting expressed a very strong message to the North Korean delegation that they should denuclearise, they should refrain from provocative action.
“So they have to listen to these messages very seriously,” he added.
However, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun fired back in the discussions, calling the US the “true provocateur” and saying it would retain its nuclear weapons programme until Washington drops its “hostile” stance.
“Unless the US removes all its anti-North policies and threats against us, any problems including the nuclear issues on the (Korean) peninsula will not be solved,” North Korean official Choe Myung-Nam said.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-Gwan, with long experience in nuclear talks, left for Russia.
A government source said North Korea launched four short-range projectiles into waters off its east coast, a day before South Korean President Park Geun-hye began a state visit to China last week. Agencies
