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SINGAPORE : In an exclusive interview with Channel NewsAsia, South Korea's foreign minister Yu Myung-Hwan has confirmed that foreign ministers from the six parties taking part in the negotiations to deal with North Korea's nuclear programme will be meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings in Singapore this week.
Mr Yu also hopes to get the international community to put pressure on North Korea to help resolve the shooting of a South Korean tourist in North Korea.
Mr Yu said the meeting in Singapore, which will be the first at the foreign minister level since the talks began in 2003, will be significant in taking the six-party talks to the next stage.
He said, "I think it is at the ministerial six-party (meeting where) we can assess the progress made so far. And the ministerial meeting can give some impetus, a boost for the six-party process to move on. And so it's politically important."
No date was given, but sources said the meeting is likely to take place on Wednesday.
Mr Yu said another round of formal six-party talks will also resume very shortly.
The talks involve the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia.
Mr Yu said, "There will be another formal six-party meeting in Beijing to be held shortly, but this time here, it is to get together to discuss informally about what should be done from now on."
At the last round of talks in Beijing earlier this month, North Korea agreed to disable its main nuclear plants by the end of October.
Pyongyang hopes that its relations with Washington will improve as the nuclear issue shows sign of progress. And South Korea hopes that the US and China, together with the international community, will put pressure on the North to help resolve the mystery over the shooting of a South Korean tourist in a North Korean resort.
Mr Yu said, "What we want to see is the other countries surrounding the Korean peninsula, like China, Russia and the US, (urging) North Korea to respond to our call for dialogue and our call for a meeting."
The South Korean government wants to investigate the shooting, but North Korea has refused to discuss the matter.
Tours to the mountain have been halted, and South Korea plans to take more measures if no progress is made.
Mr Yu said, "We will review...all the agreements that were arranged in the past to secure the safety of the tourists."
And since there are no formal contacts between the two Koreas, South Korea can only hope that the international community can play some role to resolve the issue.
It remains to be seen whether the international community will be able to persuade North Korea to allow South Korea to investigate the killing of its South Korean tourist. - CNA/ms
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