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SEOGWIPO, South Korea : South Korea will on Monday host one of its biggest-ever diplomatic gatherings, overshadowed by the growing security threat from North Korea.
Seoul planned the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit to promote its "New Asia Initiative" to strengthen its ties with the continent.
But North Korea's relations with its neighbour and the world have worsened dramatically in recent months.
Last week, it tested its second nuclear bomb, renounced the truce in force on the Korean peninsula and threatened attacks on the South.
Seoul has heightened vigilance for the June 1-2 meetings with leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the southern resort island of Jeju.
"During the summit meetings, our military will escalate its alert and mobilise additional intelligence assets," Lieutenant General Jang Kwang-Il of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said last week.
Military analysts say any North Korean action would likely be staged well away from Jeju, but timed to coincide with the summit to cause maximum embarrassment.
Security was tight, with a surface-to-air missile unit set up next to the convention centre, checkpoints on major roads and explosives-sniffing dogs.
Yonhap news agency said 5,000 police officers are patrolling the island and operating high-tech chemical detectors. Patrol boats and destroyers were stationed near the venue.
"We are maintaining watertight security to cope with all possible contingencies," a senior summit organiser told AFP, declining to link the measures to any potential North Korean threat.
Seoul says North Korea will be a topic at the summit, called to mark the 20th anniversary of relations between South Korea and ASEAN.
Leaders will also debate the global financial crisis, climate change and regional cooperation in trade, economic matters, security and culture.
"In recent years, especially as we entered the 21st century, Asia has emerged as a great power economically and in many other aspects," South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said recently.
"That is why cooperation within the Asian region is important and that is why it is especially important to improve ties between Korea and ASEAN."
The Southeast Asian leaders will discuss the trial of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the sidelines of the summit, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Sunday in a television programme.
ASEAN has been reluctant to speak out against its most notorious member Myanmar, but in May it expressed "grave concern" over the trial and reiterated its demand for her freedom.
Aung San Suu Kyi was charged with violating the terms of her house arrest after an uninvited American swam to her lakeside home. She has been under various forms of detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years.
Some 700 business leaders from the 11 countries began their own summit on Sunday. Abhisit in a keynote speech said Asia and especially East Asia would emerge relatively stronger from the global downturn.
"In my view, the current crisis will not dampen but hasten the rise of Asia as the centre of growth and prosperity," the Thai prime minister said.
South Korea sees ASEAN's almost 600 million people as a market for its export-dominated economy that can offset the recession in developed countries.
The resource-poor nation is also eyeing the bloc's abundant raw materials.
ASEAN is already South Korea's third-largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth around 90 billion dollars last year, and its second-largest destination for overseas investment.
Korean investment in the region was worth 5.86 billion dollars last year.
The figures will rise further when the two sides on Tuesday sign an investment pact, completing negotiations on a free trade agreement which began in 2005. - AFP/yb/ms
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