Asia-Pacific foreign ministers struggled yesterday to formulate a response to escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the US announced fresh sanctions against Pyongyang.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared the sanctions during a visit to Seoul ahead of the Asia-Pacific’s largest security dialogue in Hanoi, Vietnam, where the March sinking of a South Korean warship is a leading issue.
Diplomats from some of the 27 members in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) — including North Korea and its main ally China — said there was disagreement over how far to go in commenting on the sinking of the warship in March.
PHOTO: AFP
However, there was general agreement that the six-party disarmament talks with North Korea should resume as soon as possible, and there were hopes the countries involved would hold informal discussions on the ARF’s sidelines.
“It’s a game of diplomatic brinkmanship,” an ASEAN diplomat told reporters.
Clinton and North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun will attend the ARF meeting tomorrow alongside their counterparts from the disarmament talks — China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.
Pyongyang abandoned those talks last year but the ARF will place the top diplomats from those countries together in the same room for the first time since the warship sinking dramatically raised tensions on the peninsula.
“While there may not be a formal six-party talks at the sidelines of this conference it would be useful if we can help create conditions conducive for informal dialogue or informal communication to take place,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan wants some form of direct condemnation of the North to be included in the ARF’s final statement, and would oppose any declaration that includes Pyongyang’s denials.
A draft ARF declaration seen by AFP expresses “deep concern” over the sinking of the Cheonan with the loss of 46 lives.
It calls for a return to the six-party talks, but does not acknowledge an international probe which concluded that the warship was sunk by a torpedo from a North Korean submarine.
It also refers to a July 9 statement by the UN Security Council which condemned the sinking, but acknowledged Pyongyang’s denials and did not apportion responsibility — a result hailed as a “victory” by the North.
“We must be careful with any statement that would be seen to exacerbate those tensions,” the Asian diplomat said.
Noting that Pyongyang’s main backer China is a key player at the ARF, he added: “Some ARF members don’t want to push North Korea into a corner.”
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