Two Koreas, two diplomatic games

The two Koreas were engaged in different diplomatic games at a forum in Phnom Penh on Thursday with the South seeking a Southeast Asian warning against provocations and the North calling for the resumption of the six-party talks.

Foreign ministers of 27 Asia Pacific countries gathered in the Cambodian capital for the annual ASEAN Regional Forum hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The region’s largest security conference brought together Pyongyang, Seoul, Washington and other key players.

The participants held sessions on such topics as the North’s atomic programs, territorial disputes surrounding the South China Sea and Myanmar’s ongoing democratization. 

South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and his North Korean counterpart Pak Ui-chun were present at the two-day forum, the first event attended by both foreign policy chiefs since the December death of the communist state’s longtime autocrat, Kim Jong-il.

But they have no plans for bilateral talks, Seoul officials said, though they did not rule out unofficial contact.

Cross-border relations remain sour on the back of the military-focused regime’s persistent provocations, including an April 13 rocket launch.

At the ARF, Kim Sung-hwan will push for the adoption of a chairman’s statement on Friday in line with the U.N. Security Council’s condemnation of the failed liftoff, officials noted.

“Kim plans to make remarks that North Korea should not cause an additional provocation, must abide by the Council’s resolutions and show sincere behavior toward denuclearization,” a ministry official told reporters in Phnom Penh before the forum.

In contrast, Pak is expected to urge the U.S. to implement a now-defunct food deal and all the stakeholders to return to the six-party talks, insisting that the failed firing was a simple civilian satellite mission.

On Feb. 29, poverty-riddled Pyongyang agreed with Washington to put on hold its nuclear projects in return for 240,000 tons of nutritional assistance. But the botched rocket prompted the U.S. to rescind the so-called Leap Day Deal and the 15-member Council to toughen sanctions, calling it a breach of its ban on atomic and missile activity.

Cho Hyun-dong, Seoul’s deputy envoy to the six-party talks, and his U.S. counterpart Clifford Hart reiterated at a discussion on Wednesday that Pyongyang must change course before returning to the negotiating table. The multilateral talks, aimed at denuclearizing the unruly state, involve the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and two Koreas.

“While open to engagement with North Korea, we remain solid in our common stance that the North must take actions to regain trust and express its sincerity,” a senior Seoul diplomat said on condition of anonymity after the envoys’ meeting.

A statement released Tuesday after a separate ASEAN+3 conference involving Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo called for “all parties concerned to explore all possibilities to engage in peaceful dialogue which would lead to creating an atmosphere of trust and confidence among the concerned parties.”

On the sidelines of the ARF, Kim Sung-hwan reaffirmed the allies’ position at a trilateral gathering with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba. He held separate talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi later Thursday on various regional issues.

Kim curtailed his trip to one day and called off a one-on-one meeting with Gemba amid public criticism over the ministry’s handling of a suspended military intelligence pact between Seoul and Tokyo. He instead attended an urgent question-and-answer session at the National Assembly on Wednesday and is scheduled for another session on Friday.

Pak, meanwhile, is on an unusually tight schedule with seven rounds of two-way talks lined up. The 80-year-old minister arrived on Wednesday with about 10 officials. But the delegation does not include Ri Yong-ho, Pyongyang’s vice foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator who showed up last year.

During a meeting with Yang later that day, they reportedly agreed on the need to revive momentum for the six-party talks.

“Pak said that the DPRK highly values its friendly and cooperative relations with China and the DPRK-China friendship is unbreakable. (He) thanked China for giving valuable support and assistance to the DPRK in its economic and social development over the years,” Beijing’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. DPRK is the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Pak also plans to meet with his counterparts from Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia. Their talks are likely to focus on economic cooperation, Seoul officials forecast.

“The North seems to be making all-out efforts as it prioritizes ties with ASEAN,” a foreign ministry official said, citing visits by other senior officials to Indonesia and Singapore in May.

“ASEAN countries can be the ones to lean on for North Korea given their neutral attitude toward Korean Peninsula issues. It may make a request to some countries for assistance.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)