JAPAN: AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD SAYS THREAT POSED BY NORTH KOREA IS REAL
Record ID:
208422
JAPAN: AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD SAYS THREAT POSED BY NORTH KOREA IS REAL
- Title: JAPAN: AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD SAYS THREAT POSED BY NORTH KOREA IS REAL
- Date: 17th July 2003
- Summary: (W3) TOKYO, JAPAN (JULY 16, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. MV AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD SHAKING HANDS WITH JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER YORIKO KAWAGUCHI; MV HOWARD AND KAWAGUCHI SITTING DOWN; MV HOWARD TALKING TO KAWAGUCHI AS JAPANESE OFFICIALS LISTEN (4 SHOTS) 0.48 2. LAS AUSTRALIA-JAPAN SYMPOSIUM SIGN; SLV AUDIENCE APPLAUDING; SLV HOWARD ADDRESSING THE SEMINAR (3 SHOTS) 1.02 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HOWARD SAYING "The threat of North Korea is real but like all threats, it has to be dealt with in a careful and sober fashion through a combination of steady diplomacy and those nations that can most influence the behaviour of North Korea, namely Japan, the United States, China, South Korea and arguably also Russia, speaking with a common voice expressing a common view and a common exhortation to North Korea that her best interest lie in returning to the world community and an acceptable mode of behaviour so far as nuclear weaponry is concerned." 1.57 4. SLV SYMPOSIUM 2.01 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HOWARD SAYING "I think very strongly we need an emphasis on a five-country, five-power approach and I think that would be the best way given the current attitudes of different countries that we can deal with the issue." 2.18 6. SLV SYMPOSIUM 2.22 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 1st August 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
- Country: Japan
- Reuters ID: LVA9DVT7YQUP0YKYQD9I7VWLRYZU
- Story Text: Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said in Tokyo
the threat posed by North Korea was real and holding five-way
talks was the best way to solve the row over its nuclear
ambitions.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, on a three-day visit
to Japan, said on Wednesday (July 16, 2003) he took the threat
of North Korea's nuclear ambitions seriously and that the issue
should be dealt with carefully.
"The threat of North Korea is real, but like all threats,
it has to be dealt with in a careful and sober fashion through
a combination of steady diplomacy and those nations that can
most influence the behaviour of North Korea, namely Japan, the
United States, China, South Korea and arguably also Russia,
speaking with a common voice expressing a common view and a
common exhortation to North Korea that her best interest lie
in returning to the world community and an acceptable mode of
behaviour so far as nuclear weaponry is concerned," he told a
business seminar in Tokyo.
Asked what he thought was the best framework for resolving
the crisis, Howard, in Japan as part of a week-long trip to
Asia, said the emphasis should be on five-way talks that
include Japan and South Korea.
"I think very strongly we need an emphasis on a
five-country, five-power approach and I think that would be
the best way given the current attitudes of different
countries that we can deal with the issue," he said.
The nuclear crisis erupted in October, when U.S. officials
said North Korea had admitted to a secret nuclear arms
programme.
The United States, China and North Korea met in Beijing in
April to seek a diplomatic solution to the standoff. Since
then, Washington has pressed Pyongyang to agree to expand any
future talks to include neighbours South Korea and Japan.
Howard met earlier with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko
Kawaguchi and discussed the need to keep pressing North Korea
to abandon its nuclear arms ambitions.
Howard told Kawaguchi that both diplomacy for a peaceful
solution and steps like those discussed at a recent meeting in
Brisbane were needed, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official
told reporters.
Australia and Japan are among 11 nations forming the
Proliferation Security Initiative, which agreed in Brisbane on
Thursday to hold military exercises aimed at halting trade in
weapons of mass destruction by intercepting ships and
aircraft.
Participants have said the initiative is not specifically
aimed at missile exporter North Korea, which is in a stand-off
with the United States over its nuclear weapons programme, but
could also target other countries such as Iran.
Kawaguchi stressed the need for balance, reiterating that
Japan hoped for a peaceful solution to the row over North
Korea's nuclear weapons programme but saying pressure was also
needed.
Australia is one of few countries with diplomatic ties
with reclusive and impoverished North Korea, which Washington
says is generating much-needed cash by missile sales and
contraband.
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