North Korea sides with ASEAN over U

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Subject: North Korea sides with ASEAN over US Burma sanctions

North Korea sides with ASEAN over US Burma sanctions

           SEOUL, May 9 (AFP) - North Korea has sided with the Association
of South
           East Asian nations (ASEAN) in opposing a US ban on investment in
Burma,
           according to a dispatch monitored here Friday.

           "Sanction and pressure cannot be a solution," the North's Korean
Central
           News Agency (KCNA) quoted a foreign ministry spokesman in
Pyongyang as
           saying.

           "We consider that the ASEAN nations' position supporting Myanmar's
           (Burma's) ASEAN membership reflects their independent
determination to
           reject other's interference and solve their problem by
themselves," the
           spokesman said.

           Commenting on the US decision last month to prevent its companies
from
           investing in the military-ruled state because of human rights
violations, the
           spokesman said ASEAN considered the sanctions "unreasonable."

           "Whether to accept Myanmar or not is a matter to be decided by
the ASEAN
           nations, not a matter which needs others' interference," he added.

           ASEAN, whose core members are Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia,
Singapore,
           Brunei and the Philippines, have declared a policy of
"constructive engagement"
           with Burma, which they say they hope will woo rather than force
policy
           changes by the ruling military junta.