Tougher Measures on North`s Missile Exports

The G8 summit held in Evian, France closed yesterday after world leaders finished the meeting held in the city on Tuesday. They adopted a closing statement which urged the dismantling of the North Korean nuclear program.

The summit in which Russia and 7 advanced countries - the U.S., Japan, France, Britain, England, Germany, Italy and Canada - participated in designating North Korea and Iran as highly volatile countries attempting to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.

"We strongly urge North Korea to visibly, verifiably and irreversibly dismantle any nuclear weapons programs, a fundamental step to facilitate a comprehensive and peaceful solution,” the leaders declared in the closing statement.

"North Korea`s uranium enrichment and plutonium production programs and its failure to comply with its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards agreement are a clear breach of North Korea`s international obligations."

The statement also criticized North Korea on the nuclear issue and missile exports and said that “weapons of mass destruction and transporting them are a great threat to international security.”

The statement did not exclude the possibility of using physical force such as economic embargo and sea blockage against North Korea by saying “if necessary, we may use other measures to force North Korea under the International Law.”

“All countries must seek for effective measures to control weapons of mass destruction and transportation of source materials, information and specialized information for making or improving transportation means of nuclear arsenals,” the statement said.

World leaders also urged Iran to observe the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and conclude an additional safeguards agreement and supported for the inspection of Iran`s nuclear facilities. In addition, the leaders reached an agreement in establishing the `Counter Terror Action Group-CTAG.`

“If North Korea is provided with opportunities to talk to the U.S. directly without interference from other representatives participating in the multilateral talks, the North is likely to withdraw demands for North-U.S. bilateral talks and agree on South Korea and Japan`s participation in the talks,” Chinese President Hu Jintao was quoted as saying to President Bush on May 1 in the New York Times on Tuesday.

“Of cause, North Korea should be able to talk to the U.S. directly to discuss issues in multilateral talks,” President Bush was quoted as saying in the paper.

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