N. Korea opposes NAM's offer on nuclear arms

CAIRO (JP): North Korea and other members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) were divided on how to resolve the standoff on nuclear arms on the Korean Peninsula during a plenary session of the 11th conference of NAM foreign ministers, diplomats said yesterday.

They said that North Korea, which is also a NAM member, had opposed the movement's recommendation that the nuclear issue be resolved among parties concerned in the region, on the grounds that the issue is between Pyongyang and Washington.

Concern has been heightened in the Asia-Pacific region in the wake of Pyongyang's refusal to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to take samples of nuclear material from the country.

NAM insisted on Wednesday that the issue be resolved peacefully, with the involvement of countries in the region, by using the safeguard agreements within the IAEA.

Indonesia, which currently holds the movement's chair, has taken important steps to calm down the tension on the peninsula by sending Nana Sutresna, ambassador at large and head executive assistant to the NAM chairman, to Pyongyang, Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo, Washington and Vienna to gather information on the issue.

"North Korea has repeated its stance that it has neither the intention nor the funds and capacity to develop nuclear weapons. It was President Kim Il-sung himself who gave that assurance when I visited Pyongyang," Nana told a group of Indonesian journalists at the Cairo conference.

He said that despite Pyongyang's assurances to the NAM chairman, the presence of many nuclear installations in that country have prompted suspicions in the Asia-Pacific region that North Korea's nuclear development is not merely peaceful.

Indonesia and other NAM members have also appealed to the Pyongyang government to abide by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which North Korea promised earlier, Nana said, adding that withdrawing from the treaty would only arouse more global suspicion of Pyongyang.

North Korea's delegation to the conference, attended by representatives of all 111 member countries from Asia, Africa, part of Europe, and Latin America, is led by Foreign Minister Kim Yong-nam.(ego)