RI regrets N. Korea's decision on NPT<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia regretted the heated situation in the Northeast Asian
\nregion, following North Korea's decision to pull out of the
\nnuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), with a call on the
\ncountry and its bickering partner the U.S. to end the standoff
\namicably.<\/p>\n
\"We deeply regret Pyongyang's decision as it is unhelpful to
\nthe situation in the Korean peninsula and, therefore, North Korea
\nshould review the decision. Indonesia has encouraged that country
\nand the U.S. to enter discussions to end the standoff,\" spokesman
\nfor the foreign ministry Marty Natalegawa said here on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In an earlier statement, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda
\nexpressed deep concern over the increasing number of countries
\nproducing nuclear weapons in the Asian region.<\/p>\n
\"After China and India, our region does not need any more
\ncountries producing nuclear weapons; that is why we have urged
\ninterested countries to hold more effective dialog to settle the
\nnuclear issue in North Korea,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hassan also expressed Indonesia's readiness to play any role
\nin supporting peace efforts, as President Megawati Soekarnoputri
\nonce played a \"mailman\" role to convey a peace message from Seoul
\nto Pyongyang.<\/p>\n
Pyongyang made the decision after the U.S., which accused
\nNorth Korea of conducting nuclear experiments, stopped its food
\nand energy aid to that communist country. The U.S. stopped the
\nenergy aid after Pyongyang asked UN weapons inspectors to leave
\nthe country recently.<\/p>\n
The U.S., with South Korea, Russia and Japan, was providing
\nenergy aid to North Korea in compensation for the latter's
\nreadiness not to produce nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
North Korea has argued that its decision was a reaction to
\nWashington's intention to come down as hard on Pyongyang as it
\nwas on Iraq regarding the possession of weapon of mass
\ndestruction by the countries.<\/p>\n
To resolve the standoff, Washington assigned U.S. envoy to
\nAsia James Kelly to send messages around the region that the U.S.
\nwas willing to engage in dialog with Pyongyang.<\/p>\n
Kelly is slated to arrive in Jakarta on Friday, after visiting
\nBeijing, Seoul and Singapore on his mission to resolve the North
\nKorea issue.<\/p>\n
Political analyst Dewi Fortuna Anwar said on Tuesday that the
\ngovernment should lobby the opposing countries to hold dialogs as
\nthe heated situation would certainly have a negative impact on
\nother countries' economies and political situations.<\/p>\n
\"The first country that will suffer from the tension is South
\nKorea, and the destabilization will definitely spread across the
\nregion. It would ultimately hit Indonesia,\" she remarked.<\/p>\n
South Korea is the second-largest oil importer from Indonesia
\nafter Japan.<\/p>\n
\"Our government should be more active in campaigning to solve
\nthe crisis in the peninsula,\" she said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-regrets-n-koreas-decision-on-npt-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}