By ARGYLL GEDUCOS
BUSAN, South Korea – The Philippines is targeting to ink at least three agreements with South Korea as President Duterte is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in today, Monday, Nov. 25, Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Noe Wong said.
Wong said the two Asian leaders would be touching on a lot of issues during their bilateral meeting. “There will be so many topics to be discussed and negotiated between the two leaders – education, discussion on free trade agreement, or even discussions on fields of fisheries, and so on and so forth,” he said.
Duterte is here to participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit from Nov. 25 to 26.
According to Wong, the issue on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be one of the issues to be discussed during the summit.
“That subject (denuclearization of Korean Peninsula) involves the multilateral arena and the Philippines, being a member of ASEAN, gives an importance to this regional organization,” he said. “Peace and order situation in the Korean Peninsula is intertwined with other regions, moreso with the Southeast Asia. Whatever is happening in the Korean Peninsula will affect us, of course,” he added.
Wong said that the Philippines will support any effort to resolve the issue.
“We are for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. And whatever inter-Korean peace efforts are going on, we’ll support that,” he said.
Duterte last met with Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Moon in Bangkok, Thailand earlier this month during the ASEAN Plus Three Summit and the East Asia Summit. During these meetings, the leaders shared their views regarding regional and international issues affecting our region and beyond.
The Department of Foreign Affairs had earlier said that two outcome documents were expected in the upcoming summit: The ASEAN-ROK Joint Vision Statement for Peace, Prosperity, and Partnership, and the Co-Chairs’ Statement on the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit and these two represent the strong partnership between the ASEAN and South Korea. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)
