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.