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World 'must act' on N Korea
05/09/2006 12:10 - (SA)
Tokyo - US envoy Christopher Hill on Tuesday called for "concrete action" from the international community on North Korea to press the communist state to give up its nuclear programme.
"We are interested in trying to resolve this problem to protect both our countries against the possibility of further developments of North Korea's weapons programmes," Hill told reporters in Japan on the first leg of a regional tour.
"The problem we've had is that we do not have a negotiator on the other side," Hill said after talks at the foreign ministry.
Implementation of UN resolution
He said it was important that UN security council resolution 1695, which slapped sanctions on the North's missile programme, was "followed up by concrete action and its full implementation".
The resolution, which was watered down from its original form, was passed unanimously in July in response to North Korea's test-launching of seven missiles.
Testing a nuclear bomb
Hill's latest trip to the region comes amid media reports that North Korea may be about to test a nuclear bomb. Pyongyang said in February 2005 that it was a nuclear power but is not known to have tested an atomic weapon.
Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said he could not confirm reports of an imminent nuclear test or speculation that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was en route to China for emergency talks.
"I have no information on Kim Jong-Il's travels," said Hill, who was due later on Wednesday in China.
- AFP
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