FM Cho to visit Laos in late July to attend ARF meeting

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will visit Laos later this month to attend regional security meetings aimed at strengthening mutually beneficial and comprehensive partnerships, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Cho will visit Vientiane from July 25-28 to attend a series of meetings, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF) -- a rare multilateral forum involving top diplomats from the region including North Korea -- the ministry said. Cho will also attend a series of multilateral events, such as the South Korea-ASEAN and ASEAN Plus Three meetings and the East Asia Summit ministerial gathering, it said. Notably, this year marks the 35th anniversary of South Korea's establishment of ties with ASEAN, which comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam. Cho will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts on the sidelines. There is also the possibility of Cho holding bilateral talks with counterpar ts from the United States, Japan and China. During the scheduled meetings, Cho will discuss ways to improve regional cooperation in line with a South Korea-proposed initiative, the Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI). The initiative was proposed by President Yoon Suk Yeol during the ASEAN summits in Cambodia in 2022. The ARF is the only regional multilateral security dialogue in which North Korea participates. There is the possibility of North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui attending the meeting this year as North Korea and Laos have long maintained friendly ties and the COVID-19 pandemic was brought under control. "This will be an opportunity to reaffirm cooperation with ASEAN and the international community for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and to expand understanding and support for our North Korea policy," foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a regular press briefing. Source: Yonhap News Agency