| Leaders of 16 Asia-Pacific countries have | | | | North Korea's nuclear ambitions have featured |
| pledged to speed up economic integration, and | | | | prominently in the talks. Meeting for the |
| have called on North Korea to abandon its | | | | first time since North Korea's October |
| nuclear weapons programs. The statements came | | | | nuclear test, Mrs. Arroyo reiterated the |
| at the end of the East Asia Summit meeting in | | | | leaders' call for Pyongyang to abandon its |
| the Philippine city of Cebu, where VOA's Heda | | | | nuclear programs. |
| Bayron has filed this report. | | | | |
| | | | "We urge North Korea to take concrete and |
| Philippine President Gloria Arroyo says | | | | effective steps toward the full |
| progress over the past several days among | | | | implementation of the Joint statement of |
| leaders and foreign ministers from Southeast | | | | September 19 of 2005," she said. |
| Asia and its Asia-Pacific neighbors has | | | | |
| bought the region a step closer to full | | | | In that 2005 statement, the North pledged to |
| economic integration. | | | | end its nuclear programs, in exchange for |
| | | | economic and security guarantees from the |
| Mrs. Arroyo says the Association of Southeast | | | | United States and other countries. |
| Asian Nations, ASEAN, which held its separate | | | | |
| summit meeting here Saturday and Sunday, can | | | | Japan, South Korea and the U.S., along with |
| play a key role in reaching that goal. | | | | China and Russia, North Korea's traditional |
| | | | allies, have been trying for the last three |
| "We can become a dynamo as the hub and core | | | | years to persuade North Korea to give up its |
| of East Asia immersed in robust, open trade | | | | nuclear programs. |
| from within the region and across the | | | | |
| oceans," she said. | | | | The last round of negotiations ended in |
| | | | December with no progress. Pyongyang and |
| ASEAN wants to create a common market for its | | | | Washington are at odds over financial |
| 10 members by 2015, and eventually expand | | | | sanctions imposed by Washington to halt |
| that to include its six major regional | | | | Pyongyang's alleged counterfeiting and money |
| trading partners: Japan, China, South Korea, | | | | laundering activities. The North Koreans want |
| India, Australia and New Zealand. Such a bloc | | | | those sanctions lifted as a precondition for |
| would include almost half the world's | | | | any concessions on the nuclear issue. |
| population, and a fifth of its current world | | | | |
| trade. | | | | On Monday, the Asian leaders also called on |
| | | | Pyongyang for the first time to address the |
| On Monday, as leaders of all 16 nations | | | | issue of Japanese and South Koreans abducted |
| gathered in Cebu for the second annual East | | | | by North Korean agents over the past several |
| Asia Summit, the leaders pledged to | | | | decades. |
| accelerate regional free trade. | | | | |
| | | | The leaders agreed to cut dependence on oil |
| Agreement on a wide range of issues has been | | | | and to seek renewable energy supplies, at a |
| reached here over the past week, from trade | | | | time when high oil prices and rapid economic |
| and investments, to migrant workers' rights, | | | | growth raise competition among Asian nations |
| to cooperation on counterterrorism. | | | | for new energy sources. |
| | | | |