Philippines rejects US call to expel North Korea from ASEAN forum

(Baonghean.vn)- On August 3, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) emphasized that the country does not support the exclusion of North Korea from the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) taking place in Manila on August 7. Thus, the Philippines expressed its opposition to the call of the US, a traditional ally of the country, to further isolate Pyongyang in the international forum.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a military drill. Photo: AP

DFA spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said the ARF is the only place where the international community, including Southeast Asian countries, can directly address their concerns about North Korea's missile tests and nuclear program to try to find cooperative solutions. According to Mr. Bolivar, the ARF is also the only place, besides the United Nations, where North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, the United States, the European Union (EU) and ASEAN can sit together to discuss security issues.

“The ARF is a forum. We do not have an exclusion clause like Article 50 of the EU,” the DFA representative stressed. Mr. Bolivar also said that it is up to North Korea to decide whether it will leave the ARF or not, because the forum does not have “strict and fast rules” on the departure of participating countries.

Earlier, on August 2, Acting US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton said Washington would promote talks on how North Korea could be expelled from the ARF, Asia's largest security forum, as part of a larger effort to diplomatically isolate Pyongyang and force it to end its missile tests and abandon its nuclear weapons program./.

Lan Ha

(According to Philstar)