KB News Desk
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Thursday called on North Korea to respond to Seoul’s offers for dialogue and join efforts to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula at a regional security forum in Manila, the foreign ministry said.
Cho made the remarks during the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), a 27-member multilateral security forum attended by the 11 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states and major regional powers, including the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
The ARF is the only regional multilateral security forum in which both South and North Korea participate, but Pyongyang was absent from this year’s session for the second consecutive year.
Cho said peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula remain essential to the security and prosperity of the region, reaffirming Seoul’s efforts to build a peninsula where the two Koreas can coexist peacefully and grow together.
“Such efforts cannot bear fruit through the will of one side alone. I hope North Korea would respond to our sincere efforts for dialogue and cooperation,” Cho was quoted as saying by the ministry.
The minister also expressed hope that the ARF would continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Many participants expressed concerns over North Korea’s continued development of nuclear weapons and missiles, while stressing the need for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and full compliance with relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, according to the ministry.
Inter-Korean relations have remained frozen since Pyongyang declared in late 2023 that the two Koreas were “two hostile states.” The North has not responded to Washington’s calls for dialogue while deepening ties with Russia and China.
Cho expressed Seoul’s support for the Manila Plan of Action, which was adopted at the meeting and sets out the forum’s direction for cooperation over the next decade.
The minister also reaffirmed South Korea’s commitment to expanding its contributions to ARF activities, noting that Seoul will take part in co-chairing several ARF inter-sessional meetings, including those on counter-terrorism and transnational crime, the ministry said.
Cho also attended the East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting later in the day, where participants discussed the Middle East crisis, the South China Sea and other regional security issues, according to the ministry.
Launched in 2005, the EAS is a strategic forum bringing together 19 participants, including South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and India.
The member nations voiced concern over North Korea’s continued nuclear and missile development and underscored the need to resolve issues on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and diplomacy.
They also expressed concern over renewed tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and called for efforts to promote sustainable peace and stability in the Middle East.
On the South China Sea, Cho emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability, ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight, and upholding a maritime order based on international law, including the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
He also stressed the need for a code of conduct consistent with international law that does not infringe on the rights of third parties, the ministry said. (Yonhap)
