NKorea urged to abandon nuke program

DEFENSE ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Wednesday called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs, condemning multiple ballistic missile launchings that violated United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolutions.

who chaired the Asean Defense Ministers’ Meeting, said ministers expressed concern over the escalation of tensions triggered by North Korea’s threats to the United States.

Ministers, he said, “joined the region and the rest of the world in calling for [North Korea’s] abandonment of its nuclear weapons program and urged [North Korea] to comply with its obligation under the UN Security Council Resolutions.”

The Asean defense ministers also sought a “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” of North Korea as well as the resumption of diplomatic dialogues.

In a news conference on Tuesday at Clark free port in Pampanga, Lorenzana noted that UN Security Council Resolutions had failed to stop North Korean leader Kim Jong-un from making threats to the US.

South China Sea

Asean defense ministers called for the effective implementation of the Declaration on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (DOC) and the early conclusion of the drafting of the Code of Conduct (COC) over the disputed waters.

“[This is] in order to build mutual trust stability, in the region. The meeting welcomed the Framework for the COC as an indication concluding the COC,” Lorenzana said.

Asean defense ministers also discussed the situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and “the implications to regional stability of the migration of people thereat to neighboring countries, to include Southeast Asian states.”

They called for a creative approach to addressing terrorism, such as intelligence-shar