Asian talks focus on regional security

Asian talks focus on regional security

BANGKOK (Reuters): Southeast and north Asia took a step
towards forming what could be a powerful regional bloc as the
presence of North Korea at landmark talks put the spotlight
firmly on security.

North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun joined his
counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), Japan, China and South Korea for the first time
in a series of meetings on wide-ranging cooperation.

Paek was mobbed by reporters as he met Thai Foreign Minister
Surin Pitsuwan and seemed overwhelmed by the rowdy reception.

"You'd better get used to this," said Surin, as a huge crowd
of photographers, cameramen and reporters pressed in around them.

"The fact that he has agreed to join us is a big step forward
for security and diplomacy in the region," Surin told reporters.

"Not only the Asia-Pacific region but the whole of the world
will benefit" from the end of North Korea's isolation, he said.

The two men were meeting on the sidelines of the first formal
gathering of foreign ministers from the group, known as ASEAN+3.

The region has been inching towards a trading bloc in recent
years and has agreed a string of financial initiatives to bolster
its currencies and reduce tariff barriers.

Hit by recession in 1997 after the devaluation of the Thai
baht sparked a regionwide currency meltdown, finance ministers
have already signed a pact to pool foreign reserves in the event
of speculative attack on foreign exchange markets.

ASEAN -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- is also in
the process of creating a free-trade zone that they hope will
also be extended eventually to north Asia.

Focus

But Wednesday's meeting added a political dimension and North
Korea's attendance has put the focus firmly on security. North
Korea has emerged from five decades of isolation over the last
year and saw a historic summit between North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il and South Korean leader Kim Dae-jung in June.

And the Bangkok talks mark the first time the North Korean
foreign minister will meet his counterparts from South Korea,
Japan and the United States.

Cash-strapped Pyongyang is embarking on a diplomatic offensive
to improve ties with its neighbors and try to rescue its economy,
ruined by neglect and central planning.

But Seoul, Tokyo and Washington want Pyongyang to abandon a
missile program that has caused jitters in Asia. North Korea told
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week it would scrap its
missile program in exchange for help in exploring space.

The United States is deciding whether to proceed with a multi-
billion dollar National Missile Defense system to ward off
attacks by small states not party to international treaties, such
as North Korea. China and Russia have attacked the U.S. plan.

Beijing, which argues North Korea's diplomatic opening has
made the anti-missile umbrella unnecessary, has said it would
press its opposition to the U.S. scheme at two days of ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF) talks due to begin on Wednesday evening.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the U.S.
proposed missile defense scheme "isn't an offense system and it
simply reflects the concern about the development of ballistic
capability in certain countries -- and not China and not Russia".

Also at the ARF, a consultative grouping of 37 Asian and other
nations, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is expected
to hold an unprecedented meeting with the North Korean foreign
minister.

Downer told reporters the whole of Asia also needed dialog
with North Korea.

"It gives the ASEAN Regional Forum a good deal more
credibility to have a country in it which is part of the Asia-
Pacific region but which frankly has been a concern to the
security structure of the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said he hoped the ARF
would develop "from a confidence building exercise into
preventive diplomacy and ultimately conflict resolution".

"After 50 years of isolation, the time has come for a process
of engagement with North Korea," he said.