Rare-earth metals emerges as crucial topics of trilateral talks
By Na Jeong-ju
HANOI ―The leaders of South Korea, Japan and China have agreed that they won’t rush to resume the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program until they can have “discussions that can produce tangible results,” Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung said Friday.
At a three-way summit in the Vietnamese capital on the sidelines of separate talks with the leaders of ASEAN member nations, President Lee Myung-bak, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao shared the common goal of denuclearizing Pyongyang based on close cooperation and strategic partnerships.
During their discussions, Wen stressed that the nuclear talks should not be just for talks, but produce tangible results to move the denuclearization process forward, and Lee and Kan agreed with him, according to the spokeswoman.
Kim, however, remained cautious on whether China, which had called for an early resumption of the stalled six-party talks, was changing its position on the matter.
“We should wait and see. But the leaders shared a common understanding that past negotiations failed to properly address the North Korean nuclear threat,” Kim told reporters.
The remarks came after Pyongyang, which is now speeding up a power transfer from current leader Kim Jong-il to his third son Jong-un, said it was willing to return to the negotiating table to discuss the nuclear issue.
Seoul and Washington, however, have been reluctant, demanding that the North first offer a formal apology for the sinking of a South Korean Navy vessel last March.
On numerous occasions, President Lee has criticized Pyongyang for misusing the nuclear talks to “extort” food and economic aid from concerned nations.
Other topics at the trilateral talks included China’s ban on shipments of rare earth metals to Japan.
Kan called on China to ensure a stable supply of the materials to the rest of the world. In response, Wen said China will continue to provide rare earth metals to the world by developing new mines, while making efforts to secure alternative resources at the same time.
It’s the first meeting of the leaders of South Korea, China and Japan since they met on the South Korean resort island of Jeju last May.
At the time, Lee, Wen and then-Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama adopted a policy roadmap called the Trilateral Cooperative Vision 2020 to promote economic and cultural exchanges over the next decade and to discuss the possibility of a three-way free trade agreement.
They decided to set up a secretariat in Seoul next year with a view to making their cooperation more effective and systematic.
Earlier on Friday, Korea agreed with the ASEAN, an economic bloc of 10 Southeast Asian nations, to upgrade relations to a “strategic partnership,” to promote stronger economic, cultural and security ties.
The two sides adopted a resolution at the end of talks between Lee and the 10 ASEAN leaders in Hanoi. They announced a concrete action plan to achieve the shared goal of common prosperity and regional peace.
The leaders agreed to boost cooperation in countering terrorism, crime and the narcotics trade by establishing a regular security dialogue channel, separate from the annual ASEAN Regional Forum that Korea’s foreign minister attends.
They also welcomed Seoul’s plan to formulate an agenda on how to aid the development of poor nations and set up a global financial security net.
President Lee proposed the creation of a regular meeting of economic ministers from Korea and the five nations that are adjacent to the 4,000-kilometer-long Mekong River _ Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand _ to set up plans to jointly develop the area.
“Since the free trade agreement (FTA) between Korea and ASEAN was signed in June last year, bilateral trade has surged rapidly, with this year’s trade expected to reach a record high of $100 billion. We should expand the scope of cooperation to culture, security and other areas,” Lee told the ASEAN leaders, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
The two sides are seeking to increase trade to $150 billion by 2015 based on the FTA and other complementary trade arrangements.
In a broader summit also involving the leaders of China and Japan, the countries discussed ways to strengthen regional financial integration and implement their earlier accord to create a regional bailout fund.
Under the so-called Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization Agreement, which was signed last March, they will set up a $120-billion fund to cope with short-term currency volatility triggered by external shocks. This will provide financial support through currency swap transactions to certain members facing balance of payments and short-term liquidity difficulties.
The Lee administration has been expanding the scope of Korea’s diplomacy beyond East Asia, Europe and the United States to seek closer ties with Central and Southeast Asian nations under the so-called New Asia Initiative.
Seoul plans to represent their common voices on the global stage in charting a roadmap for sustainable and balanced economic growth and addressing pressing security and environmental issues.
On the sidelines of the group summit, President Lee held bilateral talks with India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the upcoming G20 Seoul Summit and the progress of bilateral trade relations.
They agreed to work together for the success of the meeting. Lee asked for the Indian leader’s cooperation and support for Seoul’s efforts to produce concrete agreements on ways to resolve pending global economic issues such as trade imbalances and reform of the International Monetary Fund, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
The leaders agreed to step up efforts to expand trade through the smooth implementation of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which was signed early this year, and push for cooperation in nuclear energy, the defense industry, information technology, science and various other fields, the presidential office said.
On Saturday, Lee will attend the East Asia Summit joined by India, Australia and New Zealand to discuss ways to strengthen regional cooperation on such challenging issues as North Korea’s nuclear threat and global warming.
On the sidelines of the forum, Lee is scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss measures to deal with North Korea.
Lee will return to Seoul Saturday night.