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Asian powers discuss NKorean nuclear standoff

by Staff Writers
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) Jul 27, 2006
China, Japan and South Korea attempted to restart stalled nuclear talks Thursday as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her North Korean counterpart headed for a security forum here.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and his South Korean counterpart Ban Ki-Moon met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur.

"As the international concerns over North Korea's missile firings have developed recently, it's important for the top diplomats of the two countries to have discussions," Ban said at the start of the 80-minute meeting.

Japan's Aso said: "It's the right time to have the bilateral meeting in this way on the side of the ASEAN forum."

Tokyo has taken the most hardline position against North Korea since the communist state test launched seven missiles that splashed into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) on July 5.

The UN Security Council adopted a Japan-sponsored motion condemning Pyongyang and imposed limited sanctions.

"We have discussed the North Korea issue and other various bilateral issues," said South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chun Yung-Woo who also attended the Ban-Aso meeting.

Aso told Ban that Japan appreciated South Korea's swift declaration of support for the UN resolution, a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said.

But he also said, "The adoption of the UN resolution is not the goal but simply one means to solve the problem."

Shortly afterwards, Aso began bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxin.

China, together with South Korea, has led this week's push to resume the six-nation talks on the North's nuclear program, which derailed in November.

However Japan and its two Asian neighbors have also been locked in a diplomatic row over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to a war shrine, territorial disputes and Japan's wartime record.

The Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers last held bilateral talks in May in Doha on the sidelines of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue forum. The previous meeting at that level was in May 2005.

Separately US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill suggested that the nuclear talks -- which group the two Koreas, China, Japan, the United States and Russia -- could be widened.

"If the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name) wants to come, we will have six-party informal (talks)," Hill said late Wednesday.

"If they don't we will have some kind of multilateral meeting to discuss security in Northeast Asia," he said.

One South Korean official suggested on Wednesday there could be a multilateral meeting which also groups Malaysia, Australia and Canada.

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House expected to approve US-India nuclear energy bill
Washington (AFP) Jul 26, 2006
The US House of Representatives was expected late Wednesday to approve a controversial US-India civilian nuclear energy deal, which supporters said will be the cornerstone of a new strategic alliance between the two countries.







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