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ARF expected to address ship sinking, N.K. nuclear talks
By Yoo Jee-ho
HANOI, July 23 (Yonhap) -- The sinking of a South Korean warship and the stalled North Korean denuclearization talks are expected to be high on the agenda of an annual regional security forum opening here Friday.
Foreign ministers from 26 countries plus the European Union will discuss a range of security issues at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) hosted by the 10-state Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The forum has previously served as a venue for discussions on North Korea and is attended this year by all six members of the denuclearizations talks -- South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
This year's session comes just weeks after the U.N. Security Council condemned the attack that sunk the South Korean naval ship Cheonan and killed 46 sailors on March 26. The Council's presidential statement, however, did not directly put the blame on North Korea, which denies any responsibility in the tragedy.
South and North Korean foreign ministers are expected to battle out their cross-border tensions over an ARF chairman's statement due at the close of Friday's session, with Seoul seeking a document similar in tone to that of the Security Council.
Seoul received early backing from the ASEAN states, whose foreign ministers on Wednesday expressed support for the Security Council move and "deplored" the attack on the ship, as the Security Council did.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan arrived in Hanoi on Thursday after high-profile joint meetings in Seoul between foreign and defense ministers of South Korea and the U.S. The two countries announced a series of joint military drills starting Sunday in South Korean waters, and the U.S. said it will impose new sanctions targeting top leaders of Pyongyang, telling them to stop the provocations and prove their sincerity about denuclearization.
Ri Tong-il, spokesman for the North Korean delegation to ARF, charged that the joint naval exercises threaten peace and security on the Korean Peninsula. Yu countered that the drills were designed to deter further North Korean provocations in the aftermath of the Cheonan sinking.
The two Koreas fought at the ARF two years ago when Seoul pushed for a mention of the shooting death of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier in the chairman's statement. It was dropped, however, when North Korea protested, embarrassing Seoul which was slammed for "diplomatic amateurism."
North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun, who wrangled with the ARF at the time, is also attending this year's forum.
Pyongyang has friends and backers among Southeast Asian neighbors, and Seoul says that may affect the wording of the chairman's statement this year.
The security forum is also expected to address the six-nation denuclearization talks, stalled since December 2008, when the North walked out demanding the lifting of sanctions against it.
Ri said Pyongyang will come back only when it can be treated on "equal footing" with other members, not "as victim and perpetrator" of sanctions.
The 27 ARF members are Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, East Timor, the U.S. and Vietnam, plus the European Union.
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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