By Yi Whan-woo
Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific countries are “arm-in-arm” in pressing North Korea harder, as seen from the statement released at the end of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), analysts said Wednesday.
The experts speculated the ASEAN nations especially played a role in pushing internationally isolated Pyongyang to observe U.N. resolutions in the ARF Chairman’s Statement.
It summarizes the highlights of the annual security forum held in Manila, the Philippines, where foreign ministers from 10 ASEAN member nations and 17 Asia-Pacific countries gathered from Sunday to Tuesday.
The ministers “expressed their grave concern” over North Korea’s two intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests on July 4 and 28, as well as its two nuclear tests in 2016 and shorter-range ballistic missile launches,” according to the statement.
It read that the ministers urged North Korea to “immediately comply fully with its obligations” under the relevant U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. They include Resolution 2371 approved on Aug. 5 to punish Pyongyang’s ICBM tests in July.
“This year’s statement was harsher than last year’s, and I believe it shows growing awareness toward threats posed by North Korea in the region,” said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University.
He pointed out the ARF statement includes some ministers’ renewed support for the “complete, verifiable and irreversible” denuclearization (CVID) of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.
North Korea has been against the U.S.-promoted principle of CVID.
“If someone sees this year’s ARF statement as tough-to-date, this is because it mentions CVID,” Park said.
An Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies, said the ASEAN nations are believed to be behind stepping up criticisms of the Kim Jong-un regime.
On Aug. 5, ASEAN countries issued a separate statement expressing concerns over Pyongyang’s nuclear program during the joint meeting of their foreign ministers.
The countries included Malaysia, which had a diplomatic row with North Korea over the assassination of the young North Korean tyrant’s elder half-brother Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur in February.
“Southeast Asian countries may have learned what it means to have North Korea as a distant neighbor and that they should walk arm in arm with rest of the world to punish the repressive state,” An said.
Park assessed that the ARF sees President Moon Jae-in’s peace overture made in Berlin in early July “as effective in general.”
The ARF statement read that “some ministers” supported the “initiatives to improve inter-Korean relations and to establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula” as suggested by Moon.
Meanwhile, the statement also carried China’s plan for suspension of North Korea’s nuclear program in exchange for suspension of the joint military exercise between South Korea and the U.S.