N. Korea keen to join ASEAN security forum
N. Korea keen to join ASEAN security forum
BANGKOK (AFP): North Korea's Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun told his Thai counterpart that the isolated state was "very keen" to join the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Thailand said on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, who holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN and its corresponding security forum ARF, said he met with Paek on Sunday at a Non-Aligned Movement gathering in Colombia.
Surin in a statement said he "welcomed the development which should promote closer ties between ASEAN and the DPRK (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea)."
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the core of ARF, which is the only region-wide security forum in the Asia Pacific area.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. ARF members include Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, and the United States.
Surin said the North Korean minister had also met with Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon with "very positive" results.
"Both sides (are) confident that diplomatic relations could be established before the ASEAN ministerial meeting in Bangkok in July," the Thai statement said.
Siazon in Manila on said Tuesday the Philippines and North Korea may establish diplomatic ties by June or July.
"Inclusion and not isolation should be the Philippine strategy for North Korea to avoid another flashpoint in East Asia," Siazon was quoted as saying in a statement.
Surin said on Tuesday such a move would "open the way for consideration of DPRK's future participation in ARF."
At present the Philippines is the only ASEAN member which does not maintain diplomatic relations with Stalinist North Korea. He said to join the grouping North Korea would need to agree to abide by decisions and statements already made by the ARF and work cooperatively to promote regional peace and stability.
A ministerial meeting of ARF is to be held July 27 after the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting ends July 26.