East Asian, Latin American nations express 'grave concern' on N.K. provocations

BUSAN, Aug. 31 (Yonhap) -- Foreign ministers and senior officials from 36 East Asian and Latin American nations expressed "grave concern" over North Korea's missile launches at the end of their meeting in South Korea's southern city of Busan on Thursday. "Sharing the view that a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula is of crucial importance for the peace and stability of Northeast Asia and beyond, we express our grave concern over the escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, including the most recent launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) of a ballistic missile on Aug. 29, 2017 and its previous provocations," the member countries of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) said in the so-called "Busan Declaration." "We strongly support the international community's common goal of achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner," according to the joint declaration. The declaration was adopted at the closure of the foreign ministerial meeting of the FEALAC, a governmental forum designed to promote cooperation between the two regions. The forum hosted by South Korea brought together the foreign ministers and their deputies from 36 member countries including China, Japan, Australia and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Ecuador. It marks the first time the FEALAC members, which include countries with close ties with North Korea such as Cuba, have made a reference to its provocations and nuclear development in their joint declaration since their first ministerial meeting held in Chile in 2011. In the Busan Declaration, the member nations reaffirmed the importance of complying with United Nations Security Council resolutions on North Korea, also extending support for the so-called Berlin Initiative, the Moon Jae-in administration's vision for building permanent peace on the peninsula. "We also support the initiatives to improve inter-Korean relations towards establishing permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula as well as to relieve tension and resolve humanitarian issues and take note of the recent initiatives of the Republic of Korea," according to the statement. The statement also made clear FEALAC members' opposition to trade protectionism, terrorism and violent extremism. It also reaffirmed their shared commitment to eradicate poverty, promote sustainable development and implement the Paris Agreement on climate change. The conference also announced the launch of the FEALAC Fund aimed at buttressing exchange projects between the two regions. South Korea has committed US$1 million as seed money for the fund. Many other countries also pledged to contribute to the fund, including Costa Rica, Guatemala, Laos, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Thailand. "We believe that FEALAC is a key international forum to promote cross-cutting actions for both regions. We thus reinforce our determination to enhance regional and sub-regional cooperation, deeper economic integration and to accelerate economic recovery by sharing our own experiences, wisdom and best practices that both regions obtained from the past crises," the statement said. Kang said in a press conference following the meeting that "I hope that the unified voice of the 16th East Asian countries and 20 Latin American countries will be heard by Pyongyang ... I am sure that North Korea understands that our goal is peaceful resolution to this challenge." Sha also said the FEALAC opens new diplomatic horizons for Korea. "It adds a unique layer of cooperation for Korea's foreign policy vis a vis East Asia and Latin America. For such a reason, Korea has continued to exercise active leadership within FEALAC," she said. "The forum showed the political will and commitment that the countries have in order to be supportive of this forum and that we will continue to work together ... we are improving our visibility, our importance and the means we have available among ourselves in the regions' 36 countries to work closer together and achieve concrete results. We have moved from words to action," Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez Sanz said in the conference. pbr@yna.co.kr (END)