North Korea invited to ASEAN summit for nuke talks
Panich, a special assistant to Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, said that Thailand as a host to ASEAN meeting to held this week would like to invite North Korean foreign minister or his deputy to come to Thailand and discuss the problems of the North Korean peninsula.
Among the leaders scheduled to attend the ASEAN meeting are US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton along with foreign ministers from South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and North Korea.
Tensions with North Korea have risen this year as it carried out its second nuclear test, a series of missile launches and threatened South Korea and UNO if sanctions are applied to North Korea.
The forum is deemed Asia’s most important annual gathering on regional
security issues, such as the North Korean nuclear threat and Myanmar’s ongoing political instability. Phuket was picked as the forum’s host because Thailand’s largest island is deemed a safe haven for the Democrat Party, which leads the current coalition government.