South Korea, Japan and China Agree to Control Weapons of Mass Destruction

Staying at Indonesia to attend the ASEAN+3 Summit, President Roh met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Bali on October 7. At the meeting, the three leaders agreed to work together to control and prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The leaders reached a consensus to deter proliferation of WMD through political, diplomatic, and administrative measures including controlling WMD exports, while deciding to strengthen cooperation for disarmament in the region. Although there was no remark about North Korea, the announcement is apparently targeting North Korea for its missile export and nuclear development.

About the North Korean nuclear standoff, the three reaffirmed their commitment to resolve the issue peacefully through dialogue. The leaders also reaffirmed a non-nuclear principle for the Korean peninsular.

The leaders adopted a joint declaration on promoting cooperation among the nations on 14 fields including security, trade, investment, energy, IT, environment, tourism, culture, and international crimes. It is the first time that the three countries issued a joint declaration.

The three countries agreed to join forces to prevent subjective interpretation and self-implementation as well as abuse of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, while pledging their commitment to Chiangmai Initiative, which was proposed at the ASEAN+3 Financial Ministerial Talks in Chiangmai in Thailand in May 2000 to prevent financial crisis in the region.

At the gathering, Chinese Premier Wen said that most of the gains from China’s exports are returned to investors since 60 percent to 70 percent of its exports are due to investment in China by multinational corporations, suggesting the country is not considering revaluation of its currency, the yuan.

Meanwhile, President Roh attended the ASEAN+3 Summit on October 7. After the summit, Roh met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, Cambodian Prime Minister Hunsen and expressed his willingness to actively engage in the economic consolidation of the East Asia region.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com