Indonesian President Joko Widodo suggested on Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should take part in the 20th summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea next year.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2018) Indonesian President Joko Widodo suggested on Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should take part in the 20th summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea next year.The 2019 ASEAN-South Korea summit will mark 30 years of cooperation between the association and Seoul.
"Hopefully, with this meeting, North Korea's commitment to taking steps toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula will be stronger," Widodo said at the ASEAN-Russia Summit in Singapore, as quoted by the Indonesian Antara news agency.
The Indonesian president also expressed hope that the two Koreas and ASEAN would become the basic elements of the regional peace architecture and cooperation in order to maintain stability.
Widodo acknowledged, however, that restoring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula would require time.
Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang began to improve after South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea's Kim met in April for a historic summit after more than a year of growing fears of war over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. At the latest inter-Korean summit, which took place in September, the two leaders reaffirmed their intention to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and launch full-fledged cooperation between the two countries.
