ASEAN seeks to curb exchanges with North Korea
By Kim Jae-kyoung
SINGAPORE — North Korea is likely to suffer deepening diplomatic isolation as the United States, its allies and ASEAN members discuss ways to curb exchanges with North Korea at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Manila, today.
Members also plan to discuss whether to exclude the isolated country from the ARF, an ASEAN-led forum that groups the U.S., the two Koreas and 24 other countries.
The move is aimed at responding to the North’s continuing provocations, including test-firings of two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which Pyongyang claimed are capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
The ARF meeting comes a day after the United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea that include banning exports worth over $1billion.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa are attending the annual forum and will seek to build diplomatic pressure on the North. The forum was set up in 1993 to promote regional security dialogue and cooperation.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho will also attend but there will be no bilateral talks between the North and the U.S. or the South, according to sources.
Southeast Asian foreign ministers issued a statement Saturday expressing grave concern over escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula triggered by North Korea’s missile tests.
“These developments seriously threaten peace, security and stability in the region and the world,” the ministers said.
“In this regard, we strongly urge the DPRK to immediately comply fully with its obligations under all relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions,” they said, supporting the “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.”
The foreign ministers’ move came as the U.S. increased pressure on ASEAN to act to isolate the rogue nation.
ASEAN refers to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, consisting of 10 members — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
At a meeting with reporters in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, acting U.S. Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton said Pyongyang’s provocations have violated the ARF’s mission of promoting security and stability in the region.
“What we have been sort of looking at is having a serious discussion of what it would take for a member to be suspended from this organization that is dedicated to conflict prevention and preventive diplomacy,” Thornton said. “I think we’re going to continue to have that conversation as it regards North Korea.
“What we’ve been doing is going around talking to partners about what more could they do to contribute to that increasing pressure on the regime and the increasing sort of diplomatic isolation of the regime.”
Top agenda at ARF
On rising pressure from the U.S., the North Korean issue will top the agenda at the ARF meeting.
The Philippines, as chair of ASEAN, is expected to seek to forge a consensus among member states on how to downgrade diplomatic engagements with the Kim Jong-un regime.
“ASEAN wants to deliver a strong message to North Korea regarding our concerns about the Korean Peninsula,” Philippine Foreign Minister Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte earlier called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a “maniac,” “fool” and “son of a bitch.”
The U.S. pressure comes as most ASEAN states maintain friendly relations with North Korea, even after the Kim Jong-nam — Kim Jong-un’s half-brother — assassination in Malaysia and the series of ICBM launches. Pyongyang has embassies in many ASEAN countries and enjoys trade ties in the region.
Some ASEAN countries are emerging as hubs for Pyongyang to evade sanctions and earn hard currency in the wake of China’s tightening of sanctions against it.
“The assassination of Kim Jong-nam has prompted many ASEAN countries to rethink relations with the North,” a senior Korean diplomat based in Jakarta said, asking not to be named.
“It seems that they are increasing pressure on the North but no country is considering cutting bilateral ties. They are only strengthening monitoring of activities by the North.”
Experts said ASEAN can do more to rein in North Korea because it has some space for leverage to influence Pyongyang.
They said the ARF is one of few multilateral regional organizations in which the North is a regular participant.
“ASEAN’s mission is to promote security and stability in the region,” Balbina Hwang, a visiting professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies, said. “North Korea’s development of missiles and its nuclear program is certainly a threat to regional stability and security.
“ASEAN should have been putting their own pressure on the North over the last three decades,” she added, calling for each member to take action to limit their trade with North Korea.