Japan, China, and South Korea urged North Korea on Sunday to drop its nuclear program and stressed the need to carry out U.N. sanctions against the reclusive government.The three countries are looking for ways to push forward international talks over North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The six-nation negotiations convened in Beijing last month for the first time in more than a year, but ended without progress. The countries — China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas — agreed to meet again but no date has been set.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in the Philippines city of Cebu on the sidelines of a summit of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The three leaders reiterated concern about North Korea's Oct. 9 nuclear test and appealed for "the peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula through dialogue and negotiation."
They "also reaffirmed the need for full implementation of" U.N. Security Council sanctions, which require all countries to keep North Korea from selling or buying any material for unconventional weapons or ballistic missiles. The sanctions also order nations to freeze assets of people or businesses connected to these programs, and ban the individuals from traveling.
On Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the main U.S. negotiator in the standoff, said international talks were progressing, albeit slowly.
The talks offer "no refuge for those in need of instant gratification, but I do believe that we are making progress on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula," Hill said in a message on "Cafe USA," an Internet chat site set up by the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.