The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, last night accused the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook of jumping the gun by announcing that Britain would establish diplomatic ties with North Korea, before the issue had been discussed by EU foreign ministers.
"People would have thought it would have been wiser to wait rather than to make an announcement without some understandings," said Mr Ahern, who is attending a two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in the South Korean capital, Seoul.
Mr Cook disclosed on Thursday London would respond positively to Pyongyang's approaches to end 50 years of diplomatic isolation. While the 25 leaders from Asia and Europe praised progress toward reconciliation between the two Koreas, they sharply disagreed on how quickly they should reach out to the Stalinist North.
"What was meant to happen," the Taoiseach stated in an interview, "was that EU leaders were supposed to listen to what was said in Seoul", and then discuss the matter of diplomatic relations at the EU General Affairs Council next week. "I had no indication that Robin Cook was going to announce it," he said.
Ireland is one of a number of EU member states invited by North Korea recently to establish diplomatic ties. "We're prepared to look at links with North Korea but we have no plans yet," Mr Ahern said.
Germany joined Britain yesterday in announcing plans to establish ties with North Korea, but France expressed reservations about giving its blessing to an authoritarian state accused of developing weapons of mass destruction and of serious human rights abuses. France said progress would depend on Pyongyang's moves on democracy and nuclear non-proliferation.
The Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori, told the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, it would be hard for Tokyo to establish ties before several issues were resolved. North Korea has demanded compensation for Japan's occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945 and Tokyo wants the return of 10 Japanese nationals allegedly kidnapped by North Korean agents. "The international community should work to bring forth positive movements from North Korea," Mr Mori said.
During a closed session of the summit - from which even notetakers were excluded - Mr Ahern said he sharply disagreed with the Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohammad.
After Dr Mahathir criticised the West for raising human rights concerns in Asia, Mr Ahern said he told the leaders: "We are fully committed to upholding the rights of the individual and in particular the fundamental rights of freedom of expression, association and religion. We do not believe that the enjoyment of these rights depend upon the attainment of a particular level of economic development by a state but they are the absolute minimum to which human beings everywhere are entitled." The summit adopted a resolution congratulating President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea on his "courage and vision" in opening up to North Korea, which is still technically at war with the South.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, will keep up the diplomatic momentum when she visits North Korea on Monday to prepare for a possible visit by President Clinton.
In a brief meeting with Mr Blair on the fringes of the summit, Mr Ahern said they discussed next weekend's unionist conference and the Northern Ireland Police Bill at Westminster. They also talked about security, including "getting a handle on the "Real IRA".