SEOUL: South Korea plans to call for the international community to take a united response to deal with North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Regional Security Forum (ARF) this week, Yonhap news agency reported.
With the presence of South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, issues of North Korea’s illicit cyber activities and concerns about the North’s human rights are also expected to be raised during the forum where top diplomats from 27 Asia-Pacific countries and the European Union (EU) are scheduled to meet in Jakarta for a series of talks, according to foreign ministry officials Wednesday.
On Thursday, Park is scheduled to participate in the South Korea- Asean foreign ministers’ meeting and the Asean Plus Three (Asean +3) meetings, which also include China and Japan.
The following day, Park will take part in the East Asia Summit (EAS) meeting, which involves Asean member states, South Korea, China and Japan, as well as the United States, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand.
During the ARF, South Korea will emphasise its resolve to implement its Indo-Pacific strategy introduced in November of last year and make efforts to earn an official endorsement of the Korea- Asean Solidarity Initiative (KASI), a core component of the Indo-Pacific strategy, from members of Asean.
The minister is also expected to express the government’s opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the region, and clarify Seoul’s stance on issues involving the South China Sea, Myanmar and Ukraine.
In between sessions, Park could hold separate bilateral talks with his counterparts from Japan, Australia, the EU and Britain. Observers also say that a three-way meeting among the top diplomats of Seoul, Washington and Tokyo could take place on the sidelines of the meetings. – BERNAMA-YONHAP
