BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei ― South Korea, the U.S., China and other regional powers beefed up diplomatic efforts on Sunday as North Korea intensifies its peace offensive despite the persistent nuclear standoff.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Brunei ahead of the ASEAN Regional Forum and other conferences hosted by the 10-nation Southeast Asian coalition for three days from Sunday. 

The region’s biggest security forum with 27 participating countries include all members of the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea ― the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas.

The ministers reaffirmed that the two countries will not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea, which was agreed upon by Presidents Park Geun-hye and Xi Jinping during their first summit last Thursday in Beijing.

They also agreed to boost efforts to set the conditions for a resumption of “meaningful” six-party talks, Seoul officials said.

Yun stressed the need for dialogue “that’s not for the sake of dialogue, but where substantive talks are possible over North Korea’s denuclearization,” a Foreign Ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

“Wang reaffirmed China’s firm resolve for North Korea’s denuclearization and sincere implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

The meeting marked the first round of Yun’s bilateral consultations with some 10 top diplomats from across the Pacific, including Japan, Russia, the European Union, Turkey and Myanmar.

It comes on the heels of Pyongyang’s dialogue offers to Seoul and Washington, which nevertheless responded by demanding preemptive, irreversible steps toward denuclearization before any restart of talks.

Pyongyang’s Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan early in the day. He is also reportedly scheduled to meet with his counterparts of China, Russia, Brunei, Vietnam, India and Indonesia.

The prospects of talks between the two Koreas or North Korea and the U.S. remain gloomy, however.

The draft statement of the ARF calls for a “verifiable denuclearization” of the communist country, expressing “concerns” over its nuclear brinkmanship. But it also carried North Korea’s call on the U.S. and its partners to end their “hostile” policy.

The chief nuclear envoys of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan gathered in Washington late last month and agreed on the need for “stronger obligations” on Pyongyang than those stipulated in its Feb. 29, 2012, agreement with Washington before returning to the negotiating table.

Under the so-called Leap Day Deal, the North agreed to put a moratorium on its nuclear enrichment program, halt atomic and missile tests and let in IAEA inspectors in exchange for 240,000 tons of food assistance.

For Yun, the four-day trip will also provide an opportunity to foster rapport with Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida Fumio and search for ways to mend bilateral ties frayed by historical and territorial rows. They plan to meet on Monday.

In April the top Korean diplomat scrapped his envisioned first trip to Tokyo in protest against some Japanese Cabinet ministers’ visit to the Yasukuni Shrine that honors top World War II criminals.

By Shin Hyon-hee, Korea Herald correspondent
(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)