South Korea asked Indonesia to help the country persuade North Korea to stop its nuclear programme. The East Asian Nation sought a UN resolution mechanism to stop North Korea from carrying out powerful nuclear tests.
According to Jakarta Post, Korean Ambassador to Indonesia, Taiyoung Cho, during his speech at Korean Cultural Center in Jakarta on Wednesday said: "We believe Indonesia as a friend of South Korea will play a big role in resolving North Korean nuclear issues."
However, Dino Patti Djalal, the former foreign minister, seems doubtful of Indonesia's contribution. According to him, Indonesia cannot directly intervene in North Korea's issues because of its distance from the country. Nonetheless, the minister assures that Indonesia will convey aspirations from Southeast Asia to the UN.
"What the international community can do is to revive again the six party talks," Dino said, according to the news agency.
From 2003 to 2007, the six party talks for multilateral negotiations involved North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the US. In 2009 the group split and North Korea resumed nuclear tests.
On September 13, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman, Moon Sang-gyun, said that North Korea is ready to conduct an additional nuclear test at any time. "Assessment by South Korean and US intelligence is that the North is always ready for an additional nuclear test in the Punggye-ri area," he said.
"North Korea has a tunnel where it can conduct an additional nuclear test," Moon added.
On September 9, North Korea conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test. The blast triggered a 5.3 Richter scale tremor around the test area and was more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
