North Korea says no more six-party talks (Roundup)

Jul 23, 2009, 10:24 GMT

   Phuket, Thailand - North Korea on Thursday rejected any comprehensive solution to the threat posed by its nuclear programme and refused to return to international negotiations until the United States abandons its hostile attitude.

   North Korea's roving ambassador Ri Hong Sik made the comments about the six-party talks to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme at an impromptu press conference at Asia's main security meeting, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum, on the Thai island of Phuket.

   'The US should abandon its hostile policy first,' Ri said.

   US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said it was unfortunate that North Korea had shown no willingness to pursue denuclearization at the forum.

   'There is no place for North Korea to go,' Clinton said. 'They have no friends left to protect them from the international effort to move forward with denuclearization,' she added.

   North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and Myanmar's ongoing political instability were the centre of the talks on Phuket although the Myanmar issue was clearly sidelined by Pyongyang's remarks.

   Clinton even offered some rare words of praise to the military regime in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for its professed willingness to enforce a UN Security Council resolution that calls for an arms embargo on North Korea and the right to inspect any suspicious cargo from the country.

   'We were gratified by Burma's statement announcing its intention to adhere to the UN resolution,' Clinton said.

   Earlier this week, the secretary of state expressed fears of North Korean-Myanmar military cooperation, perhaps in nuclear weapons development.

   'We know there has been cooperation between North Korea and Myanmar in the past and we are going to be vigilant that it does not occur in the future,' Clinton added.

   The ASEAN Regional Forum has drawn 26 foreign ministers to Phuket, 600 kilometres south of Bangkok.

   Clinton met Wednesday with the foreign ministers from the other countries involved in the six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. The only country not to participate was North Korea itself, which is a member of the forum but refused to send its foreign minister to the annual meeting.

   The forum issued a strong statement of support for the recent UN Security Council resolution on North Korea, whose nuclear programme is deemed one of the main threats to security in Asia.

   The United States and its allies have offered economic incentives to Pyongyang in return for ending its nuclear ambitions.

   The forum consists of ASEAN's 10 members as well as Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, North and South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua Guinea, Russia, Sri Lanka, East Timor and the United States.

   ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.