
UNITED NATIONS -- Kazakhstan's decision to become a nuclear-free state after gaining independence from the Soviet Union should serve as a guiding example for other countries, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Thursday, urging North Korea to do the same.
"We have achieved a high international standing, specifically by renouncing nuclear weapons and securing nonaggression safeguards from nuclear powers," Nazarbayev said at a U.N. Security Council meeting.