Honolulu (Hawaii), June 14: The United States, Japan and South Korea have urged North Korea not to inflame global tensions over its suspected nuclear weapons program and vowed to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis. The trio also yesterday expressed concern over alleged drug smuggling and money counterfeiting by North Korean entities, amid allegations that the Stalinist state is involved in smuggling missile parts to countries such as Iran. The calls came in a final communique issued after a two-day meeting of senior officials from each nation in Hawaii to which came after Pyongyang admitted publicly for the first time that it was seeking nuclear weapons. Washington, Tokyo and Seoul -- which have been at odds over how to handle the crisis -- said that they would not tolerate Pyongyang's possession of nuclear weapons but stressed they would seek a peaceful, diplomatic solution.


"The three delegations urged North Korea not to exacerbate the situation," following warnings by the US, Japanese and South Korean leaders for North Korea to pull back on its weapons program.

"They agreed to continue to seek a complete, verifiable and irreversible end to North Korea's nuclear weapons program through peaceful, diplomatic means," the three nations said.


The trio of allies also "expressed concern over the illegal activities by North Korean entities, including drug-running and counterfeiting, and discussed means of co-operating among themselves and with other countries and international organizations to stop such activities," the communique said. Bureau Report