Government representatives from 17 nations met in Tokyo for the 12th Asian Senior-level Talks on Non-Proliferation (ASTOP-XII), where they are expected to discuss North Korea’s recently claimed hydrogen bomb test, along with the attacks in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“North Korea issues, is the issues that the international community, particularly countries in this region, needs to tackle and take united immediate action,” Ambassador and Director General for Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazutoshi Aikawa said during the meeting’s opening remarks.
“The recent terrorist attacks in Jakarta on January 14th is another stark reminder that terrorists know no border,” Aikawa added.
Participating countries include Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, the U.S., Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, China, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Myanmar, and Laos.
North Korea claimed earlier this month it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, the nation’s fourth nuclear test that its leader claims is a self-defensive step against a U.S. threat of nuclear war.
The nuclear test angered both China, its main ally, and the United States, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt the North’s claim that the device was a hydrogen bomb.
Last week, suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the heart of Indonesia’s capital. The assault was claimed by Islamic State, the first time the radical group has targeted the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Seven people were killed in Jakarta by multiple blasts and a gunfight, and five of them were the attackers themselves. The brazenness of the assault suggested a new brand of militancy in a country where low-level strikes on police are common.
It took security forces about three hours to end the attack near a Starbucks cafe and Sarinah, Jakarta’s oldest department store, after a team of militants traded gunfire with police and blew themselves up.
An Indonesian and a Canadian were killed in the attack. Twenty people, including an Algerian, an Austrian, a German and a Dutch national, were wounded. (Reuters)