North Korea has been absent from the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the region's only multilateral security dialogue mechanism, for two consecutive years while strengthening ties with Russia and China. Meanwhile, foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States, and Japan are gathering in Manila, Philippines today (22nd) to urgently discuss joint countermeasures against North Korea.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu will hold a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting in Manila today and share recent developments in North Korea-Russia and North Korea-China exchanges while coordinating joint responses toward North Korea. This meeting is being held approximately two weeks after a meeting following the NATO summit on the 7th, demonstrating the urgency of the current Korean Peninsula situation and the close coordination among the three countries.

The three countries of South Korea, the United States, and Japan are expected to emphasize the need for joint responses to various issues including the Korean Peninsula situation, Middle East developments, economic security, ASEAN cooperation, small modular reactor (SMR) cooperation, and combating cross-border cybercrime.

At the same time, North Korea is expected to be absent from the ARF this year, following its first absence at the Malaysia conference last year. Since joining the ARF in 2000, North Korea's two consecutive years of absence from the region's only multilateral security dialogue mechanism support analysts' assessment that the country is bringing isolation upon itself from the multilateral diplomatic stage.

[Photo=Yonhapnews]

North Korea appears to be avoiding multilateral diplomacy and instead focusing on bilateral diplomacy. North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui recently visited Moscow, Russia, and held a direct meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 19th, and on the 20th held strategic talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Last month, North Korea accelerated its closeness with Russia and China through high-level exchanges marking Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to North Korea and the 65th anniversary of the North Korea-China Friendship Treaty.

In response, our government has expressed the position that exchanges between North Korea and Russia and China should be conducted in a way that contributes to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and North Korea's return to dialogue. Park Il, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, emphasized the government's will to pursue such diplomatic efforts.

As North Korea avoids multilateral diplomacy and concentrates on bilateral diplomacy with Russia and China while escalating regional tensions, the trilateral coordination of South Korea, the United States, and Japan is expected to become an essential diplomatic effort to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, and to guide North Korea toward the path of dialogue.