China, Japan criticizing upcoming conference on North Korea hosted in Vancouver

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Two major Asian countries are criticizing the conference on North Korea set to take place in Vancouver next week, which is aimed at coordinating a response to Kim Jong Un’s weapons program.

China and Japan are not on the guest list for the international meeting, and feel the meeting will “not help” improve relations.

China says the conference will harm joints efforts to improve the Korean situation because it doesn’t include key players like itself.

Meanwhile, Japan is questioning why countries like Colombia and Greece will be there — and it won’t.

Paul Evans is a UBC expert on global affairs and has visited North Korea dozens of times. He explains the Chinese point of view on this:

“China is very reluctant to attend meetings about North Korea that don’t include North Korea. Their concerns about this gathering of the foreign ministers is not unexpected.”

“They favour the six-party talks, which includes North Korea, as an instrument going forward. So, there’s no real surprise that China is concerned and a little disappointed that the meeting has set up the way it is,” he adds.

Tuesday’s meeting in Vancouver will include foreign ministers from an interesting group of countries mainly based on 17 nations that fought together in the Korean War.

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