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N. Korea silent on kidnaps
 Thailand joined Japan in urging sincere cooperation on the issue of missing persons in North Korea, only to be met with silence from the Pyongyang representative at the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) meeting yesterday. Caretaker Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon called on Pyongyang to cooperate with other countries in addressing the disappearance of foreign nationals including those from Thailand and Japan. Anocha Panjoy from Chiang Mai was believed to be abducted by North Korea's spies in Macau 30 years ago. Mr Kantathi joined Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso during the ARF meeting in appealing for humanitarian assistance from North Korea to solve the problem. However, North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun did not respond. ''He closed his eyes for most of the time at the meeting,'' Mr Kantathi said jokingly. Mr Paek only talked when ARF participants expressed concern over the Korean nuclear issue, saying that Pyongyang had a right to test its missiles. He emphasised that certain conditions must be met if the six-party talks were to restart. But involved parties, especially US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), urged that the talks should be held without pre-conditions, Mr Kantathi said. Posted by: Fred 2006-07-29 |
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