South-east Asian foreign ministers yesterday expressed grave concerns over North Korea's recent missile tests that have deepened global fears about the rogue nation's nuclear ambitions.
Even as a draft resolution to squeeze Pyongyang trade has been put on the United Nations' table, ministers from the Asean grouping said the North's missile and nuclear tests "seriously threaten peace, security and stability in the region and the world".
Urging North Korea to "comply fully" with UN Security Council resolutions, they also backed the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner".
They called for "self-restraint" and underscored the importance of creating conditions conducive for dialogue to de-escalate tensions.
The statement by the 10-member Asean was issued separately, rather than included in Asean's customary communique at the end of the annual foreign ministers' meeting.
There was also a push for North Korea, as a member, to comply with the Asean Regional Forum's (ARF) aim "to maintain the Asia-Pacific as a region of lasting peace, stability, friendship and prosperity".
North Korea is expected to join 26 other nations when the ARF meets tomorrow.
The South-east Asian ministers began their meetings yesterday with a push for a consensus on what to do with Pyongyang, which has defied years of sanctions and calls to further isolate it over its increasingly hostile stance towards the United States, particularly after two recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
"Asean wants to deliver a strong message to North Korea regarding our concerns in the Korean peninsula," Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Cayetano earlier told reporters.
He said the ministers also took up calls from the US to "downgrade diplomatic engagements and exchanges" with Pyongyang, which has embassies in a number of Asean member-countries and significant trade ties in the region.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to attend the Manila meeting and will press China and other Asian countries to take tougher action against North Korea.
South Korea's foreign minister said yesterday that she was open to rare discussions with her North Korean counterpart at the ARF.
"If there is an opportunity that naturally occurs, we should talk," Ms Kang Kyung Wha told reporters as she landed in Manila, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
North Korea's top diplomat, Mr Ri Yong Ho, is attending the regional summit.
Further adding pressure on the North, the UN Security Council is set to vote early todayon a US-drafted resolution that aims to slash by a third North Korea's US$3 billion (S$4.08 billion) annual export revenue.
A council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was "high confidence" that North Korea's allies China and Russia would support the draft resolution, which was circulated to the 15 Security Council members on Friday, Reuters reported.
The draft resolution would ban North Korea's exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood.
It would also prohibit countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean workers employed abroad, ban new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.
