By Kim Hyo-jin
North Korea offered to hold bilateral meetings with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Manila, the Philippines, only to get the cold shoulder from them, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Tuesday.
In a press briefing held on the last day of the forum, Kang said North Korea's diplomatic isolation has further deepened as the participants in the forum were determined to show collective concern against the North' s missile provocations.
"North Korea requested bilateral meetings with many countries but most of them were rejected," Kang said.
"ASEAN countries share the consensus that having one-on-one talks with North Korea would undermine the significance of their collective position. So the Philippines' foreign minister met the North's counterpart as a representative and delivered the ASEAN stance."
On Saturday, foreign ministers of the 10-member ASEAN issued a joint statement as a rare move, expressing "grave concerns" over the North's continued missile tests.
The statement, which came a day before North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho arrived in Manila, became a "tone setter" of the following ASEAN meetings scheduled Sunday and Monday, Kang said.
"I think the ARF became a stage where North Korea deeply felt its diplomatic isolation," she said.
"The North had already been in a difficult position at the beginning of the forum due to the adoption of Resolution 2371 at the U.N. Security Council. But it has been further cornered after expressing its unyielding stance in a statement responding to the U.N. resolution."
Asked about Seoul's diplomatic achievements during the forum, Kang answered she drew much support from the participants of President Moon Jae-in's Berlin initiative unveiled in July, an overture pursuing rapprochement with Pyongyang, denuclearization and building lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Of Ri, Kang noted "he responds very prudently and slowly. I got the impression that he thinks a lot while talking to people."
The annual forum involving 10 ASEAN nations as well as members of the dormant six-party talks on denuclearization of North Korea ― the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia ― was held from Aug. 6 to 8 in Manila.
