Defense Minister Han Min-koo plans to call for efforts to denuclearize North Korea during regional defense talks being held in Malaysia on Wednesday.
The general session for the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus kicked off Tuesday for a three-day run in Kuala Lumpur, involving the 10 ASEAN nations plus eight dialogue partners including South Korea, Japan, China Russia and the United States.
During his planned speech to the ADMM-Plus general meeting, Han will urge participating countries to put effort into persuading North Korea to discard its nuclear program.
His speech will also touch upon the importance of the unification of the two Koreas as well as the searing issue of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
On the South China Sea front, Han’s remarks may be in a neutral tone that does not go beyond his stance issued during a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday.
During the Monday meeting, he said freedom of navigation and flight should be guaranteed in the region and any disputes should be resolved peacefully within the frame of international law.
Regional tensions have grown amid China’s ongoing construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea, seen as a move to bolster its territorial claims in the waters also claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam.
Following the general session, the participating countries will adopt a joint statement which stresses the importance of global peace-keeping operations, maritime security and humanitarian relief assistance, as well as bolstering peace on the Korean Peninsula, according to officials.
Later in the day, Han will hold meetings with China’s Defense Minister Chang Wanquan as well as Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu to discuss the South China Sea issue and the South Korea-Indonesia collaboration in Korea’s indigenous fighter jet project, KF-X, respectively.
Indonesia is a foreign partner for the project to build combat jets with stealth capabilities with indigenous technologies.
Indonesia has agreed to shoulder 20 percent of the development costs for the project and acquire about 50 new planes.
On Oct. 31, the Indonesian parliament approved its first round budget worth US$78.6 million for the joint project.
Han may express gratitude for the parliamentary approval and ask for further cooperation on the combat jet program during his meeting with the Indonesian defense minister, the officials said. (Yonhap)
