Irked Southeast Asia urges Pyongyang to return to six-nation talks

Bangkok, Oct 9 (UNI) Southeast Asian nations today rapped North Korea for destabilising regional peace and urged Pyongyang to return to the six-nation talks to find a diplomatic way out of the nuclear standoff it had created with the world community.

The Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement called on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

"Thailand, at this time, urges all the parties concerned to exercise restraint and expressed the hope that the nuclear issue in the Korean Peninsula will be resolved peacfully, through diplomatic negotiation by the earliest resumption of the six-party talks," Bangkok said.

Meanwhile, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo slammed today's underground nuclear test conducted by North Korea which threatened peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

Manila also called on the secretive nation to refrain from future nuclear testing, abide by the NPT and to return to the six-nation talks.

Pyongyang had walked out of the talks in which the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea were trying to dissuade North Korea from going nuclear. The last round was held in November 2005.

Singapore's Foreign Ministry described the test as a "rash and dangerously provocative act" and called on Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks without terms.

In a statement, Indonesia said the nuclear test would "add new tension and harm efforts to create stability in the Asia-Pacific region." Jakarta expressed concern that the nuclear test could spark off a nuclear arms race in the region.

Statements by foreign ministries and senior leaders in Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia too strongly disapproved of North Korean's action and expressed concern over its implications for regional peace and stability.

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