US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Indonesia yesterday to attend a regional security forum which is expected to focus on North Korea's nuclear threat and efforts to fight terror on land and sea.
Powell arrived at a military airbase in the Indonesian capital after a visit to Sudan.
He was to hold talks later yesterday with members of ASEAN and attend today's annual meeting of the 23-member ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
ARF, the Asia-Pacific's only security forum, includes all six countries involved in talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program -- China, Russia, the US, Japan and North and South Korea.
North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun is willing to meet Powell on the sidelines of the forum if the US side requests it, a Pyongyang official said on Wednesday.
A third round of six-party talks ended on Saturday in Beijing, with signs of flexibility but no concrete progress.
Participants agreed to meet again by the end of September.
At the last round the US put forward a new plan which would give the North three months to shut down and seal its nuclear weapons facilities in return for major economic and diplomatic rewards.
It was the first significant overture to Pyongyang since US President George W. Bush took office in early 2001 and placed Stalinist North Korea on an "axis of evil," alongside Iran and pre-war Iraq.
North Korea rejected the proposal as unrealistic but Washington said it expects the North to study it. Terrorism, including the threat of seaborne attacks in the piracy-prone Malacca Strait, is also expected to figure large on ARF's agenda. The US and Singapore are worried that terrorists could hijack an oil or gas tanker and use it as a floating bomb in a maritime version of Sept. 11.
However, the US recently backed away from suggestions that US forces might help patrol the waterway separating Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia after it raised hackles in Indonesia and Malaysia.
About half the world's oil supplies pass through the strait.
Forum members will also discuss this week's handover of power in Iraq. ASEAN chair Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, was fiercely critical of the US invasion.
In an implied criticism of the military operation, ASEAN foreign ministers after a meeting on Wednesday described "surging unilateralism" as one of the world's challenges.
Powell will also be at odds with ASEAN on efforts to establish democracy in army-ruled member Myanmar.
The ministers on Wednesday dropped calls made last year for the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and merely "underlined the need for the involvement of all strata of Myanmar society in the ongoing national convention" which is drafting a constitution.
Powell will seek more action from ASEAN to bring about democratic reforms, Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner said this week.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS