SPAIN CONDEMNS NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST

UNCLAS MADRID 002556 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE, ISN, EAP AND IO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PARM KNNP KN SP SUBJECT: SPAIN CONDEMNS NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST REF: SECSTATE 169418 ¶1. DCM passed reftel points October 10 to MFA Rafael Dezcallar, Director General for Policy. ESTHOFF doubletracked same points with MFA Disarmament Affairs Deputy Director General Ignacio Sanchez. Given that the GOS had publicly condemned the North Korean nuclear test on October 9 (see below),DCM and ESTHOFF urged their interlocutors to implement expeditiously and completely all requirements contained in the expected UNSCR denouncing the test. ¶2. Begin informal Embassy translation of the MFA October 9 statement on the North Korean nuclear test: "The Government of Spain condemns that the DPRK, ignoring the warning of the international community contained in UNSCR 1695, has carried out the nuclear test that it had announced several days earlier via its state press agency. This grave provocation will isolate the DPRK even more and can only serve to hurt the North Korean people. The Government of Spain views, with grave preoccupation, the alteration in the regional balance in northeast Asia caused by this test, as well as the effects it can have on international peace and security. The Government of Spain requests that the Government of the DPRK return immediately to the six-party talks in order to implement the accords of September 19, 2005. The Government of Spain remains in close contacts with its EU partners to study the measures that will applied in this case." End text of MFA statement. ¶3. Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos made comments to the press October 9 which basically repeated the language of the above communique. In brief, he characterized the test as a "grave provocation" and indicated that he would consult with his EU partners regarding "the measures" that would be adopted in response Moratinos also called for North Korea to return to the six-party talks. ¶4. Deputy Foreign Minister Bernadino Leon, during an October 9 meeting with visiting Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Masakazu Sekiguchi, also expressed the GOS' "preoccupation" with the test and noted that it had already "been condemned by Foreign Minister Moratinos in the name of Prime Minister Zapatero." Sekiguchi reportedly characterized the test as a "threat to peace and security" in east Asia and said it was "indispensable" that North Korea return to the six-party talks. AGUIRRE