ARF Statement Seeks N. Korea Denuclearization with Soft Tone

August 7, 2018

Bangkok- Foreign ministers from member states of the ASEAN Regional Forum called on North Korea to denuclearize itself, but with a soft tone, a chairman's statement to wrap up their weekend meeting showed Monday.

The document did not refer to the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization," or CVID, of the Korean Peninsula, while stating that the ministers urged North Korea to fulfill its stated commitment to "complete denuclearization."

A draft of the document had voiced the ministers' support for international efforts to achieve CVID of the peninsula.

The ARF is a security dialogue forum including the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other countries, such as Japan, North and South Korea, China and the United States.

At the ministerial meeting, held in Singapore on Saturday, North Korea criticized the United States for calling for international sanctions against it to be maintained. North Korea is believed to have strongly opposed the draft statement, sources familiar with the situation said.

The issue of Japanese abductees in North Korea also did not appear in the final statement, although the draft touched on the issue by saying that some ministers "emphasized the importance of addressing humanitarian concerns, including the immediate resolution of the abductions issue."

Also released on Monday were chairman's statements for two separate foreign ministers' sessions held in Singapore on Saturday--a meeting among the 10 ASEAN states plus Japan, China and South Korea, and a gathering of the 18 member countries of the East Asia Summit forum. Neither meeting was attended by North Korea.

Both statements showed participating countries' commitment to international efforts to bring about CVID.

Meanwhile, the ARF statement said that "the ministers discussed the matters relating to the South China Sea and took note of some concerns on the land reclamations and activities in the areas," apparently referring to China's military base development there, although it failed to name the country. Its draft did not include the words "land reclamations." Jiji Press