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Asian security meet calls on North Korea to disarm
Singapore, June 01: North Korea dominated three days of security talks between Western and Asian defence chiefs that finished here today, with a consensus among all 220 delegates that Pyongyang must dismantle its nuclear weapons program, organisers said.
Singapore, June 01: North Korea dominated three days of security talks between Western and Asian defence chiefs that finished here today, with a consensus among all 220 delegates that Pyongyang must dismantle its nuclear weapons program, organisers said.
"Everybody agrees in all of the countries in the region, except the North Koreans, that it's unacceptable for North Korea to have nuclear weapons," Gary Samore, from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said at the end of the Asian security conference.
US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz attended the conference yesterday with his main message a call for a united regional stance to pressure Pyongyang.
Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill delivered a message to Pyongyang that the United States and its allies were now fully focused on forcing it to dismantle its nuclear program following the US-led war that ended Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq.
"On the weapons of mass destruction front, the emphasis clearly has now switched from Iraq to North Korea," Hill told reporters after the end of the conference, which the IISS organised.
However although there was consensus on the final goal of trying to keep the Korean peninsula nuclear free, there was little agreement on how this would be achieved.
Some at the conference were disappointed that the United States was intent on brokering a common stance with China, South Korea, Russia and Japan without a bigger role for the United Nations.
Bureau Report
US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz attended the conference yesterday with his main message a call for a united regional stance to pressure Pyongyang.
Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill delivered a message to Pyongyang that the United States and its allies were now fully focused on forcing it to dismantle its nuclear program following the US-led war that ended Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq.
"On the weapons of mass destruction front, the emphasis clearly has now switched from Iraq to North Korea," Hill told reporters after the end of the conference, which the IISS organised.
However although there was consensus on the final goal of trying to keep the Korean peninsula nuclear free, there was little agreement on how this would be achieved.
Some at the conference were disappointed that the United States was intent on brokering a common stance with China, South Korea, Russia and Japan without a bigger role for the United Nations.
Bureau Report