Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano met his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho for talks on Monday (August 7) during which he conveyed security concerns on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) following the escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Cayetano, who is this year’s ASEAN host, reaffirmed the importance of having North Korea in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to continue talks, a statement released after the meeting said, as it is a way to “ensure mutual openness and communication” in order to “maintain peace and security for our people”.
ASEAN has taken a stronger tone at this year’s summit than it has previously, calling for the North to comply with U.N. resolutions and make a positive contribution to regional peace, a move that coincides with the U.N. Security Council unanimously imposing new sanctions on the isolated country on Saturday (August 5) aimed at pressuring Pyongyang to end its nuclear program.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday said the resolution sends a strong message that North Korea needs to understand what the world expects of it.
ASEAN foreign ministers earlier “reiterated” their “grave concerns over the escalation of tensions in the Korean Peninsula” including the most recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests of North Korea on July 4 and 28, and two other nuclear tests last year.
The “ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Statement on the Developments in the Korean Peninsula” stressed how “these developments seriously threaten peace, security and stability in the region and the world.”
The 10 ASEAN foreign ministers also “strongly urged” North Korea to “immediately comply fully” with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and also called for the “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.”
(Reuters)
