JEJU ISLAND (South Korea), 2 June 2009: Malaysia today expressed deep concern on the latest developments in the Korean peninsula and condemned the recent nuclear test carried out by North Korea.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the test by North Korea represented a serious setback to efforts aimed at keeping the region and the world free from nuclear weapons and their delivery systems.
He said the latest developments in the Korean peninsula were a clear violation of its obligations under the relevant United Nations Security Council resolution and decisions.
“Malaysia strongly believes that the continued existence of nuclear weapons presents a grave threat to humanity, particularly by increasing the risk of proliferation.
“Malaysia, therefore, reiterates the importance of achieving the universal goal of complete and general disarmament especially weapons of mass destruction and its delivery system,” he said in a statement at the second session of the Asean-Republic of Korea (ROK) Commemorative Summit here.
The summit, which was held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Korea’s relations with Asean, was attended by South Korean president Lee Myung-bak and all the 10 leaders of Asean member countries.
Najib said Malaysia would continue to monitor the developments in the Northeast Asian region.
“We urge [North Korea] to immediately return to the Six-Party Talks. Malaysia stands by its conviction that the Six-Party Talks process is the best platform available to resolve all outstanding issues amicably.
“Malaysia hopes that all parties concerned would remain committed to the process, including focusing on ways to build mutual trust and confidence,” he added.
The prime minister said Malaysia would like to see peace and stability, as well as a denuclearised Korean peninsula as it would benefit the Asian region as a whole. — Bernama
Gopal Raj Kumar says
There is more than just a tinge of hypocrisy in this “Buck Brown’s Granny” condemnation of North Korea by states such as Malaysia and Australia.
The reason is this:
Malaysia, like Australia, is sychophantically pro-Chinese in every respect including on the question of China’s foreign policy. North Korea is a client state of China. It does not require superior analytical ability to work that one out. North Korea and China are the elephant in the room in international relations because of the vested interest in a friendly China to states such as Australia and to political minnows such as Malaysia who benefit from China’s enormous economic and political clout when dealing with others.
Australia, a staunch supporter of China’s credentials as a responsible user of uranium, had egg on its face when North Korea began re-enriching plutonium in defiance of the morally weak caveat placed by the west on North Korea’s right to do so.
Perhaps in doing what it has done with a tokenistic condemnation of North Korea’s nuclear test, Malaysia is bracing itself for the fall out from the anticipated test explosion of the second Islamic bomb, this time by Iran.
The current stance by Malaysia would in the circumstances be seen as giving Malaysia “credibility” on the subject if it were to claim a defence of being even-handed in dealing with the issue of nuclear proliferation.
Iran though is as useful to Malaysia in Islam as the Protestants would be to Sin Fein.