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North Korea: 11th member of ASEAN |
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July 28, 2000
BANGKOK(AP) - After decades of international isolation, North Korea was inducted Thursday into Asia's leading security forum amid hopes its opening up to the world can ease tensions in the region. North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun joined counterparts from the West and the Asia-Pacific at the one-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum in Bangkok. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said it made more sense to have dialogue with the North Koreans than freeze them out. Host Thailand declared Pyongyang's entry would foster higher confidence in the region and contribute to world peace. "I think that our country's admission to the ARF reflects the common desire ... to establish normal relations and promote amity and harmony," Paek said. Ministers touched on a wide range of concerns, including instability in Indonesia and the disputed mineral-rich islands in the South China Sea. They also debated so-called soft security threats, like piracy and trafficking in drugs, arms and human beings. The forum hotly debated missile defense systems planned by the United States, largely against the threat posed by North Korea's missile program. Russia issued a statement saying it was being joined by China and Vietnam in opposing a reported U.S. proposal to expand a planned missile theater defense - originally to protect U.S. troops in Japan and South Korea - to cover all of East Asia. Vietnam succeeds Thailand as the new chairman of the ASEAN Regional Forum. "The Americans are actively promoting the idea of expanding the theater anti-missile defense system, which would include not only Northeast Asia but also Southeast Asia," Ivanov said in the statement. The wider system would remove all ambiguity about whether the shield would cover Taiwan and disputed islands in the South China Sea. Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province and considers defense aid interference in China's internal affairs. Talbott said later that the theater defense would "not necessarily, certainly not in the current context" cover Southeast Asia. "No decisions have been made in that regard with respect to this region, so I don't know what he's talking about," Talbott said. China's foreign minister, Tang Jinxuan, leveled a blistering criticism, saying the "cold war mentality is still affecting the way some countries perceive world politics and international relations." "Some people are hawking the theater missile defense program against the tide of our times," Tang said. Talbott said Wednesday that he anticipated criticism from other nations over the U.S. national missile shield to defend its own territory, though two recent tests had failed. Talbott defended the national shield as part of a multi-pronged approach that includes deterrence and export controls on technology. But most other nations view it as undermining existing arms control treaties and possibly triggering a new missile race. Surin said that both the theater and national missile defense systems were raised at the ARF. "No one spoke in support of the NMD, but the United States representative promised to bring the expression of concern back to where the decision was being made," Surin told a closing news conference. Despite the wrangling, the overriding message was a big welcome to North Korea and hopes that dragging the Stalinist state from its hostile isolation would bring greater stability to a volatile region. Canada announced that it was formally recognizing North Korea after Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy met late Wednesday with Paek Nam Sun, foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, freed by the collapse of the Middle East peace summit, was dashing to the Thai capital to meet Paek on Friday to clarify the North's latest plans on its missile program. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il informed Russia last week that he wanted to transform it into peaceful launches of satellites. The U.S. has said it could accept North Korean satellite launches from elsewhere, possibly the South Pacific, but would oppose sales of rocket boosters and other technology to Pyongyang, according to South Korean diplomats cooperating with the Americans. Countries with defense interests in Asia agreed Thursday that the volatility of the world economy because of globalization was forcing them to take a broader look at security concerns. Foreign ministers of 23 countries represented in the ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia's largest defense conference, noted in their annual meeting that economic and social issues were increasingly important to security. Host Thailand, highlighting topics discussed at the forum, said in a concluding statement that it was timely to discuss the security implications of globalization. "We have agreed that the nature of security threats has changed," Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan told reporters. "There are more players, more non-state actors," Surin remarked. "High-tech globalization and IT have certainly exacerbated and complicated the problems." Asia was rocked in 1997 and 1998 by a financial crisis that spread from country to country, partly because of the high-speed trading done on international currency markets. The crisis devastated Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea and undercut other countries that had enjoyed years of booming growth. Asian economies have largely bounced back and expect a second year of overall growth. China's foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan, said that the crisis had left lingering scars and "adversely affected Asian-Pacific security." "Separatist forces are asserting themselves more aggressively," Tang said in a speech. "The rich-poor gap is widening. Ethnic and religious conflicts are cropping up one after another." The hardest-hit country has been Indonesia, where long-time dictator Suharto fell from power in 1998 amid economic near-collapse from the crisis. The new, democratic government of President Abudurrahman Wahid has been beset since taking office last year with separatist or communal violence. The ministers agreed in their statement that a united, democratic and prosperous Indonesia was "fundamental" to regional security. The sprawling archipelago of 200 million people straddles global shipping lanes and is the largest member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The ASEAN Regional Forum, which inducted North Korea as a member Thursday, brings in 13 other countries with security interests in the region, including the United States, Russia and China.
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