Both ministers met in Nusa Dua this morning, one day prior to the 18th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on July 23. The ARF itself is expected to be participated in by foreign ministers of ASEAN countries, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, South Korea, North Korea, European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste and the United States.
"Today`s meeting went well. One of the topics of discussion was how to use the conducive situation in Bali to create a momentum towards the six party talks," said Marty adding that the Friday bilateral meeting also discussed the possibility of cooperation in economic and food sectors.
Earlier, ASEAN countries during a meeting with China, Japan and South Korea last Thursday also called on South Korea and North Korea to resume talks and solve their conflict. The meeting also underlined the importance to resume the six party negotiations.
The six party talks involving South Korea, North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia were expected to be resumed after their last meeting in December 2008.
Meanwhile, South Korea`s chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac had recently met his Japanese counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama in Seoul for a two-day trip, and reaffirmed their stance that the dialogue involving South Korea and the DPRK should come before other multilateral negotiations begin.
The two agreed to make additional efforts to hold inter-Korean nuclear talks, seen as a separate venue for discussing Pyongyang`s nuclear program aside from the long-stalled six-party nuclear talks.
Pyongyang, which had declared the six-way aid-for-disarmament talks "dead" in 2009, expressed its wish to return to the negotiating table, but the regional consensus remained that the two sides should first hold a dialogue and mend ties.
Seoul, along with Beijing and Washington, has sought a three- step approach beginning with an inter-Korean dialogue to reopening the disarmament talks, which will lead to bilateral talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
(A051)
Editor: Bambang
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