South Korea, the United States and Japan confirmed their firm intention to denuclearise North Korea during high-level diplomatic talks held under the auspices of ASEAN on Friday, Korean media reported.
First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea Park Yun-joo, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya held a meeting of representatives of the foreign ministries of the three countries within the framework of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum. This is the first such trilateral meeting of high-level diplomats since the election of South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae-myung, in June.
“All three sides confirmed that their commitment to denuclearisation of North Korea remains unchanged and agreed to establish a deterrence system based on close trilateral interaction and co-operation in the security field,” Yonhap quoted a statement from the South Korean Foreign Ministry as saying.
Park Yun-joo also called on the US and Japan to “support South Korea’s efforts to reduce tensions between the Koreas and resume dialogue with the North.”
Nurturing relations between North and South
Since taking office, President Lee Jae-myung of the Republic of Korea has continued to insist on active measures aimed at improving relations with the DPRK.
Earlier, he called on public associations to stop distributing anti-North Korean leaflets. In June, South Korea and North Korea suspended military propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers along their borders, and on Wednesday, South Korean authorities repatriated six North Korean citizens who had been rescued at sea earlier this year.
The Malaysian capital is hosting the 58th ministerial meeting of the ASEAN member states (and a series of meetings between ASEAN foreign ministers and dialogue partners in multilateral formats initiated by the regional bloc, including the BAC and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), as well as bilateral ministerial meetings.
ASEAN comprises Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
ASEAN’s dialogue partners are China, Russia, the United States, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the EU and the United Kingdom. ASEAN has incomplete dialogue partnerships with Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
