Japan wants G8 to bear on North Korea
[ 2007-06-07 09:47 ]
Japan and the United States want the world's leading industrialized
nations to put more pressure on North Korea to comply with an international
agreement aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program. VOA White House
Correspondent Scott Stearns reports from Germany, where Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe and U.S. President George Bush met to discuss the matter ahead of the
start of the G8 summit.
Prime Minister Abe says
North Korea is not complying with an international agreement to close its
uranium enrichment facilities. 
Mr. Abe said he wants G8 leaders to bring more pressure to bear on Pyongyang to meet its nuclear obligations
and resolve the dispute over Japanese civilians abducted by North Korean agents.
"Unfortunately, the North Koreans have not done anything to implement the
initial actions," said Mr. Abe. "And also on the issue of abduction, they have
not taken any sincere actions to resolve that issue. So we agreed that the G8
leaders need to send a strong message to North Korea on these issues."
President Bush said G8 leaders have a common message that they expect North
Korea to honor the nuclear agreement reached with the United States, Russia,
China, Japan, and South Korea. The deal supplies fuel oil to North Korea in
return for it shutting down its nuclear reactors and allowing international
inspectors to verify the move.
North Korea says it will not close its reactors until it receives $25 million
from a North Korean account in a Macau bank that was frozen in 2005 after
Washington said the funds were tied to money
laundering.
The Bush administration says it unfroze those funds in March. But because the
money is tainted by charges of money laundering, some reputable banks in China
and America have refused to handle the funds, complicating the transfer to North
Korea.
Russia's deputy foreign minister says his country will work to help resolve
the issue if the United States ensures that sanctions will not be used against
Russian banks in the future.
bear on
:對…施加壓力
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