Brunei urged to be firm with N Korea
Brunei needs to take a "firm and clear stance" as chair of Asean on the issue of North Korea's recent nuclear test, a South Korean diplomat said yesterday.
North Korea earned international condemnation after going through with its planned nuclear test on February 12, in defiance of the UN Security Council resolutions.
Speaking to the local media, outgoing counsellor and deputy chief of mission for the Embassy of the Republic of Korea Jo Sung Wook said the nuclear test was likely be a major issue in the upcoming regional forums, which Brunei was chairing.
While Brunei is a small country, as chair of Asean for 2013, the international community will be paying attention to what is said, Jo said.
“It is a burden and Brunei’s responsibility to show readiness in taking a stand on this kind of international security issue,” he said.
The outgoing diplomat will be leaving the country this week after serving two years with the embassy in Brunei Darussalam.
The counsellor also referred to the South Korean government’s statement on the nuclear test, which he said had used “strong language”.
North Korea’s nuclear test constitutes a flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolutions, the statement said.
With reference to recent long-range missile launches, the South Korean government said the test “poses a direct challenge to the whole international community, as well as an unacceptable threat to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia”.
The statement noted that the South Korean government, as president of the UN Security Council for the month of February, “will cooperate closely with the international community and seek all necessary measures, including actions by the UN Security Council” to halt North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
It also noted that to protect its people and their property from North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat, Seoul would also “accelerate expanding its military capability, including deploying at an early stage, its extended-range missiles, currently being developed, which covers all of North Korea”.
Brunei became the 158th country to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) earlier this year.
