THE Foreign Ministers on Saturday strongly urged North Korea to immediately comply fully with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
During the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers Meeting, officials of the 10-member bloc also called on Pyongyang, expected to participate in Asean Regional Forum on Monday, “to contribute to realize” its vision of maintaining lasting peace and stability in the region.
“We, the Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [Asean], reiterate our grave concerns over the escalation of tensions in the North Korean Peninsula,” the Asean Foreign Ministers said in a statement.
They issued the strong message two days before the ARF on Monday and a day before the arrival of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho on Sunday midnight.
The 10 leaders said North Korea’s recent testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles on July 4 and 28, and even the two previous missiles it launched in 2016 resulted an escalation of tension in the region.
“These developments seriously threaten peace, security and stability in the region and the world,” the Foreign Ministers said.
“In this regard, we strongly urge the DPRK to immediately comply fully with its obligations under all relevant UN Security Council Resolutions,” they added.
The Asean Foreign Ministers also expressed their support for the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.
They also called on all concerned parties, particularly North Korea, to exercise self restraint, and underscored the importance of creating conditions which “is conducive for dialogue to de-escalate tensions.”
“We support initiatives to improve inter-Korean relations towards establishing permanent peace in the Korean Peninsula,” they also said.
The Foreign Ministers added the Asean could take the role in contributing to peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.
In their statement, the foreign ministers said: ”We strongly call upon the DPRK, as participant of the Asean regional forum, to positively contribute to realize the ARF Vision to maintain the Asia-Pacific as a region of lasting peace, stability, friendship, and prosperity where States and organizations, both within and outside the region, to work in a spirit of mutual trust, appreciation and respect to overcome security threats and challenges and prevent escalation of potential conflicts with a view to creating an environment conducive to sustainable development, social progress and improved quality of life for all peoples in the region.”
In a press conference, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said the Asean expected to have a “candid and free flowing” discussion with its regional partners, including Russia, North Korea, China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.
“It is important for all parties to actively participate in the discussion in ARF,” Bolivar said.
He said that since North Korea started testing its missiles over the past, the Asean remained consistent about its position on Pyongyang’s action and the statement was a message to them that the 10-member bloc was concerned.
During the ARF, Bolivar said, the ASEAN expected to have a “face to face” dialogue with North Korea.
On Friday, DFA chief Alan Peter Cayetano, the sitting Asean chairman, said the Asean was eyeing to downgrade its ties with North Korea.
Cayetano also warned the North Korean government that it would suspend talks with them if Pyongyang continued to test its missiles.
“You will not get us to talk about your security if you just continue those missiles,” Cayetano warned.
“We are studying how we can downgrade [the issue] because we don’t have much engagement with them,” he said.
North Korea was first admitted to participate in the ARF through a unanimous decision during the foreign ministerial meeting in Bangkok in July 2000.
At the time, the leaders of both South and North Koreas had just held a historic summit in June, and Pyongyang appeared to be intensifying its diplomatic outreach to international organizations.
It was Thailand’s foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan who, as Pyongyang’s top supporter for its admission, argued that the forum would provide a useful venue for engaging it rather than isolating North Korea.
Bolivar said he was aware the Asean had criteria for selecting countries to be admitted in the ARF.
But he said it might be impossible for Asean to ask North Korea to exit from ARF but if Pyongyang felt like making an exit, that was in the latter’s judgment.
“If North Korea wants to exit, that is their prerogative,” Bolivar said.
Washington has said it is considering asking Asean to suspend North Korea’s membership in the forum.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho will attend the Asean Regional Forum on Monday and he is set to arrive on Sunday midnight.
North Korea launched its second intercontinental ballistic missile test last week, which deepened fears by the international community over its leader Kim Jong-Un’s nuclear weapons strike capabilities.
Instability in the Korean Peninsula has long worried the Philippines due to the large presence of Filipino workers there, numbering at least 57,000.
An escalation of conflict is also seen to affect at around 200,000 Filipinos in Japan.