1. On the sidelines of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, Minister Yun Byung-se presided over a Troika Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) on September 22. In their meeting, the top diplomats exchanged views on the grave situation on the Korean Peninsula since North Korea’s fifth nuclear test and discussed the way forward for FEALAC.

2. Minister Yun, calling North Korea’s fifth nuclear test a serious provocation different from the previous rounds in terms of the strength and interval, underscored the need for the international community to toughen sanctions and intensify pressure on North Korea in a bid to give the North no choice but to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

° The foreign ministers of the Troika countries representing the 36 member states of FEALAC shared Minister Yun’s view of North Korea’s recent test as a grave, unacceptable provocation and expressed concern over escalating nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

3. The foreign ministers of the Troika countries, forecasting that the eighth FEALAC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to be hosted by the Republic of Korea in May 2017 will be a significant milestone in the development of FEALAC, agreed to work together to enhance the connectivity between East Asia and Latin America, including by setting up a FEALAC fund under the New FEALAC Action Plan to be adopted at the forthcoming meeting.

4. The first FEALAC Troika Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which came at the proposal of the ROK, is seen to have served as an opportunity to share with the Regional Coordinators of FEALAC, comprised of 36 East Asian and Latin American countries, the view on threats from North Korea’s nuclear tests and ballistic missile development; and for the ROK to continue leading FEALAC’s cooperation process.


* unofficial translation