A DELEGATION from North Korea led by its vice foreign minister met Wednesday its Filipino counterpart regarding preparation for its participation in the Asean Regional Forum in August.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the delegation was led by Vice Foreign Minister Choe Hui Chol.
"The purpose of the visit is to discuss preparations for Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho's participation at next week's meeting of the Asean Regional Forum," DFA Spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said.
He said it was Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Enrique Manalo who met with the North Korean delegation.
North Korea has been under pressure from the international community for its series of nuclear ballistic missile tests.
The 27-member ARF's annual meetings are also attended by the foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan, countries involved in the so-called six-party talks aimed at taming the North's nuclear ambition. The talks were last held in April 2009, when the North pulled out to protest international condemnations over its long-range rocket launch.
In May, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pressed Southeast Asian foreign ministers in a meeting at the State Department to ensure "leak-proof" enforcement of sanctions against North Korea and to prevent the pariah nation's diplomats from conducting business that could benefit its weapons programs.
The foreign ministers were from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, which is spearheading next week's meeting.
The Trump administration has been pushing to get the international community to intensify diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program before it can pose a direct threat to the American mainland. (SDR/VoxPop Philippines/AP)
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