Amsterdam - The international community should increase sanctions against North Korea, Dutch foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen said on Tuesday, in the wake of its nuclear bomb blast and missile-testing.

Opening the 2009 Plenary Meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism in The Hague, Verhagen said "Pyongyang leaves the international community little choice but to put more pressure on the regime through new sanctions."

Adding North Korea "continues to play the role of a potential threat and a possible proliferator of nuclear weapons," Verhagen said the country's "reckless behaviour must not go unanswered."

With the growing importance of nuclear energy in the global effort to combat climate change, Verhagen said, the international community should make sure non-proliferation standards and other safeguards against nuclear terrorism are observed.

"The dangers of nuclear proliferation are more visible than ever before," he said.

Verhagen also announced the Netherlands, which will join the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board this autumn, would contribute some 250,000 euros
(346,249 dollars) to its Nuclear Security Plan for its first year of operation.

The plan is a new programme designed to improve nuclear security and combat nuclear terrorism.

Politicians and nuclear experts of more than 60 countries are meeting in The Hague on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the prevention of nuclear terrorism.

The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism was established in 2006 by the US and Russia. The countries that joined the initiative also cooperate closely with the IAEA.(dpa)