EU urges NK to give up missiles, nukes

The leaders of the European Union (EU) urged North Korea Wednesday to end the practice of spending tens of millions of dollars on missile tests at the expense of the livelihood of its residents.

“I would like to highlight the gravity of North Korea’s human rights situation, and hunger and malnutrition of the people. This should be the first priority for North Korea, not missiles and nuclear weapons,” said Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council.

Earlier, the leaders of the United States, China, Russia and several other nations condemned the Stalinist regime for starving its people.

During a joint press conference held at Cheong Wa Dae after a summit with President Lee Myung-bak, the EU leader described North Korea’s human rights condition as “appalling.”

Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, joined the summit and the press conference.

Van Rompuy emphasized Europe has been fully supporting the South Korean government’s efforts to stop the repatriation of North Korean defectors in China where extreme punishment and even execution await them.

President Lee noted that the EU has played a pivotal role in improving human rights in the North over the past several decades.

“During the summit, I was convinced that the EU will continue to play a constructive role in resolving the repatriation of North Koreans from China,” he said.

Over the past decades, the EU has dealt with North Korea’s human rights issue with a two-track approach. The EU has focused “not only on basic rights, but also on the right to live and the right to have sufficient food for North Koreans and their children.”

After the summit the two sides released a joint press statement detailing their cooperation and joint efforts to bolster ties and build a partnership to deal with regional and global issues as well as North Korea.

South Korea and the EU agreed to hold high-level political dialogue every year and consultations to strengthen cooperation in human rights.

The two sides also agreed to beef up exchange programs in the academic field and seek joint programs in green growth, and science and technology.

During the news conference, the leaders emphasized that the two sides were better off after a free trade agreement (FTA) went into force July 1 last year.

President Lee admitted that bilateral trade decreased last year mainly due to the eurozone crisis. But he emphasized that the trade deal helped cushion the economic shock as bilateral trade in items subject to the trade pact has increased.

Barroso said the Korea-EU FTA was the most ambitious trade pact the EU has signed with foreign governments.

Despite the eurozone crisis, he said, the EU is still the largest economic bloc in the world, stressing it is bigger than the United States in terms of trade volume.

Barroso said the EU seeks to have a strong presence in the Asian market and its negotiations with Singapore to sign a trade pact are in the final stages. <Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>

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