N. Korea nuclear threat, Myanmar haunt ASEM meet

N. Korea nuclear threat, Myanmar haunt ASEM meet

Linda Sieg and Masayuki Kitano, Reuters/Kyoto

Asian and European foreign ministers meeting in Japan on Friday
fretted about North Korea's nuclear threat, while the European
Union pressed Myanmar to release opposition leaders and improve
its human rights record.

Almost a year after the last round of six-country talks aimed
at resolving the crisis over North Korea's nuclear programs,
worries about an atomic test by the reclusive state are growing.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told counterparts
from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South
Korea and China that patience was running thin.

"We can't wait forever. There needs to be a sense of urgency,"
a Japanese official quoted him as saying.

Machimura echoed the U.S. view, saying other measures would
need to be considered if there was no progress in negotiations.

"For example, we need to think about the Security Council as a
next option," he told reporters after meeting South Korean
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe
Meeting (ASEM) in the Japanese city of Kyoto Ban, however, took a
different tack.

European Union (EU) External Relations Commissioner Benita
Ferrero-Waldner told Reuters in an interview that the resumption
of six-country talks was the best way to ease tensions.

The European Union pressed Myanmar on Friday to free
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners
while dangling the prospect of more aid if the military junta
improved its human rights record.

Concerns about the Southeast Asian military junta's human
rights record prompted the EU to step up sanctions last year
against Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, but Brussels has
recently shifted its policy and is also seeking dialog.

Ferrero-Waldner and Luxembourg's deputy prime minister, Jean
Asselborn, pressed their points in an unprecedented meeting with
Myanmarese Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of an Asia-
Europe meeting (ASEM) in the Japanese city of Kyoto.

"We used the opportunity of the meeting to make very clear
face-to-face our concern about the situation in the country and
to press for the release of Suu Kyi and other political
prisoners," said Emma Udwin, a spokeswoman for Ferrero-Waldner.

The European ministers handed over a list of political
prisoners whose immediate release Brussels wants to see and Nyan
Win "undertook to look into" the list, Udwin said.

"This is not only a question of justice, but a humanitarian
concern since many of the individuals in question are ill," Udwin
said. Nyan Win also said he would consider Brussels' request to
open an office in the capital Yangon for a non-governmental
organisation to distribute humanitarian aid, she added.

The EU is expanding assistance to Myanmar to 30-35 million
euros ($38.87 million-$45.34 million) in 2005 primarily for
health, education and the environment.

More could be forthcoming in the future if Myanmar made
progress on human rights and democracy, Udwin said.

"We don't want the people of Burma-Myanmar to suffer hardship.
Our quarrel is not with the people of Burma-Myanmar. That is why
we have maintained our assistance," she said.

"But ... clearly, one can have a more generous relationship
with a country that is moving in the right direction."

Myanmar complained this month that sanctions imposed by the
European Union and the United States deprive thousands of its
people of jobs.

About 60 supporters of Suu Kyi gathered in the rain earlier in
the day along the road to the Kyoto International Conference Hall
where Friday's ASEM meeting was held, carrying placards and
shouting slogans against the military junta.

"Peace and Freedom for Burma," read one sign.

Japan, meanwhile, voiced its opposition to the EU's proposed
lifting of its arms ban on China, which in turn lobbied for an
early lifting of the embargo, EU officials said.

The EU banned most arms sales following the suppression of
pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, but
most EU leaders now consider it an anachronism and an impediment
to better relations with an emerging Asian giant.

Washington is also opposed to ending the ban.