FM to attend annual ASEAN-hosted meetings in Jakarta next week

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin plans to attend next week’s annual gatherings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia, officials said Friday.

Park is scheduled to join the South Korea-ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting and the ASEAN plus three meeting, also involving China and Japan, next Thursday, according to his ministry. The following day, he will take part in the East Asia Summit (EAS) meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

In between the sessions, Park could potentially hold separate bilateral talks with his Japanese and Chinese counterparts, Yoshimasa Hayashi and Qin Gang, respectively, in Jakarta.

Foreign ministers of China and Japan have typically attended the annual gatherings.

If realized, a meeting with Qin would mark the first face-to-face foreign ministerial meeting between the two countries since Qin took office last year.

In a potential South Korea-Japan foreign ministerial meeting, Hayashi could explain to Park the findings of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report on Tokyo’s plan to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Observers are also keeping close tabs on the possible attendance of North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui at the ARF meeting. The North is also a member of the ARF.