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 MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Finance ministers from 20 of the world's most powerful economies universally condemned North Korea for its recent nuclear test, but rejected a bid by Japan to formally include the position in the final communique of their annual meeting issued Sunday.
"All of the countries represented at the G-20 deplore that test and the instability that it threatens on the Korean Peninsula," Australian Treasurer Peter Costello told reporters at a news conference at the end of two days of closed-door meetings.
"Because it was a meeting of economic ministers and central bankers, there was a view that we shouldn't just broaden the agenda to issues outside our principal area of work. That's why it wasn't mentioned" in the final statement, he said.
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