ASEAN nations need to curb exchanges with N. Korea
By Kim Jae-kyoung
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SINGAPORE _ A growing number of nations are downgrading diplomatic ties with North Korea to deepen the Kim Jong-un regime’s isolation following its sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3.
Most recently, on Sept. 18, Spain asked the North Korean ambassador in Madrid to leave the country by the end of September, becoming the first European country to expel a North Korean diplomatic envoy.
The move followed in the footsteps of Mexico, Peru and Kuwait. It came as the United Nations passed a resolution that imposed a ban on the country's textile exports and capped its crude oil imports.
Against this backdrop, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member nations need to play a more active role in reining in North Korea by taking action rather than just talking.
Following the North’s nuke test, ASEAN foreign ministers issued a joint statement to condemn Pyongyang, using strong words such as “deplore” and “grave concern” numerous times. A few of them issued a separate statement of condemnation.
However, among the 10 ASEAN member states, the Philippines, chair of ASEAN this year, is the only county that has taken actual measures against the North’s nuclear threat by suspending trade with Pyongyang.
No other country from the 10-member bloc, which also consists of consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, has followed the Philippines’ example.
Amid growing nuclear threats from the North, ASEAN member nations’ more active roles are particularly important in two aspects.
First, some of the countries have maintained long, friendly relations with North Korea. Although their overall volume of economic interaction is much smaller than China’s, the North’s relationship with this region is deep and extensive.
Vietnam and Laos share the communist ideology while Cambodia and Myanmar have traditional friendships with North Korea. Malaysia, even after the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, half brother of Kim Jong-un, at a Malaysian airport, still maintains diplomatic ties with Pyongyang.
Secondly, the ASEAN region has emerged as a hub for North Korea’s illegal trade in the wake of China’s tightening of sanctions against the North. In other words, ASEAN is becoming a source for the North to evade sanctions and earn hard currency.
“North Korea has manipulated diplomatic ties with and regulatory loopholes in Southeast Asian countries to overcome U.N. sanctions through illicit activities such as counterfeiting, money laundering, drugs and arms trade,” Hoang Thi Ha, lead researcher at the ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, wrote recently in ASEAN Focus.
In this regard, any ASEAN member suspending bilateral trade or expelling a diplomatic envoy will have a bigger impact on the North, intensifying its isolation and thus making Kim Jong-un rethink his strategy.
See Seng Tan, deputy director at the Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies of Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said ASEAN member states need to consider taking steps similar to the Philippines.
“Southeast Asia has been in the news lately regarding its trade ties with North Korea, which, in the view of some observers, are not in step with U.N. resolutions against North Korea,” he told the Korea Times.
He pointed out the Philippines’ decision to suspend trade with the North has to do with the country being the current chair of ASEAN and intending to lead by example.
“Most ASEAN countries have condemned Pyongyang’s provocations. If they are serious about sending a message, then following Manila’s example is not a bad idea,” he said.
If ASEAN nations view North Korean provocations as serious threats to regional peace and stability, it is time for them to make more proactive efforts not only to comply with U.N. resolutions but also to take more stringent individual actions against the Kim Jong-un regime.