N. Korea requests Asean 'partnership'
KUALA LUMPUR - North Korea has requested a formal partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a top Malaysian Foreign Ministry official said Saturday.
Othman Hashim, secretary general of the ministry, said North Korea, along with Norway, Ecuador and Mongolia, have applied for formal partnerships with the 10-member Asean.
He said there are different categories of partnership with the grouping and Asean is evaluating the requests to decide what category is suitable for each of these countries in their engagement with Asean.
The official made the remarks to reporters at the end of the first day of the meeting of Asean senior officials to prepare for the Asean summit that will be held in Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi on Monday.
North Korea's engagement with Asean so far has been through its membership to the Asean Regional Forum, a multilateral ministerial forum on security that is spearheaded by Asean and which is attended by the North Korean foreign minister.
Asean already has a "dialogue partnership" with South Korea, a status that the grouping offers to countries that are its biggest economic partners, such as the United States, Japan and China.
Through this dialogue partnership, Asean has regular meetings with the top leaders and the trade and foreign ministers of these countries regularly on the sidelines of Asean meetings.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/541371/n-korea-requests-asean-partnership
KUALA LUMPUR - North Korea has requested a formal partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a top Malaysian Foreign Ministry official said Saturday.
Othman Hashim, secretary general of the ministry, said North Korea, along with Norway, Ecuador and Mongolia, have applied for formal partnerships with the 10-member Asean.
He said there are different categories of partnership with the grouping and Asean is evaluating the requests to decide what category is suitable for each of these countries in their engagement with Asean.
The official made the remarks to reporters at the end of the first day of the meeting of Asean senior officials to prepare for the Asean summit that will be held in Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi on Monday.
North Korea's engagement with Asean so far has been through its membership to the Asean Regional Forum, a multilateral ministerial forum on security that is spearheaded by Asean and which is attended by the North Korean foreign minister.
Asean already has a "dialogue partnership" with South Korea, a status that the grouping offers to countries that are its biggest economic partners, such as the United States, Japan and China.
Through this dialogue partnership, Asean has regular meetings with the top leaders and the trade and foreign ministers of these countries regularly on the sidelines of Asean meetings.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/541371/n-korea-requests-asean-partnership
