Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Oct. 7 and reaffirmed their opposition to North Korea’s nuclear arms. 

The two leaders shared their views on the issue of denuclearizing North Korea on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Meeting that took place from Oct. 6-8. The meeting came three months after their first meeting during the Korean president’s state visit to China in late June. 

Chinese President Xi made it clear that China is sternly opposed to North Korea possessing nuclear arms and conducting any additional nuclear tests, a South Korean official present at the summit talks said. 

Citing the number of North Korean people who chronically suffer from malnutrition, South Korean President Park asked Chinese President Xi to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear arms ambition and concentrate on economic development. Chinese President Xi’s position of opposing North Korea’s nuclear arms appeared to be more intense than the remarks he made during summit talks with South Korean President Park, the official noted. A communique issued at the end of their summit talks in June, stated that a related state’s nuclear arms development poses a serious threat to the peace and stability of Northeast Asia, including the Korean Peninsula. The statement did not directly name the state as North Korea, but found a way to clearly imply it. 

A view of the 8th East Asia Summit in Brunei on Oct. 10.

The two leaders differed on the issue of holding six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear arms program, however. Xi demanded the creation of an atmosphere for the early opening of the six-party talks, stressing the importance of solution through dialogue to prevent a ‘repeat of a vicious cycle,’ but President Park asked as a precondition for the resumption of the talks for North Korea to show sincerity.

As President Park made a positive assessment of four Chinese ministries’ announcement of blacklisted goods against North Korea, Xi replied that China would faithfully stick to the United Nations’ measures taken against North Korea’s conducting of nuclear tests.  

Korean President Park holds talks with 

Indonesian President Yudhoyono in Jakarta on Oct. 12.

President Park’s amicable personal ties with Chinese President Xi presented a sharp contrast to those between Park and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Park shook hands with the Japanese prime minister upon their arrival at the venue of the APEC Economic Summit, but she did not talk with Abe while sitting next to each other. 

President Park also held a series of summit talks with leaders from Mexico and Peru to discuss ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Meeting.

President Park visited Bali, Indonesia, where she participated in the APEC Economic Meeting from Oct. 6-8. Following the visit to Indonesia, the president flew to Brunei where she attended the ASEAN+3 Summit as well as the 8th East Asia Summit. President Park also made a state visit back in Indonesia from Oct. 10-12 at the invitation of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

At her opening speech in the first session of the APEC Leaders’ Meeting on Oct. 7, President Park said, “First and foremost, APEC member economies should act as solid patrons of the multilateral trading system so that it can continue to prosper.” She continued, “Though regionalism has been spreading lately, the multilateral trading system centered on the World Trade Organization is still vital in strengthening free trade and trade regulations at the global level and deterring protectionist moves.”

President Park holds a summit with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski at Cheong Wa Dae on Oct. 22.

“A small protectionist measure taken in one country could cause another country to increase its protectionist barriers, followed by the possibility of greater protectionism across the region. Protectionists need to be warned that no matter how small their policy, we will make a concerted effort to prevent its spread,” Park said. 

“All countries need to make an effort so that discussions on regional integration can move forward in a transparent manner within APEC. This will help realize the goal of a multilateral Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), one of the long-term goals of APEC,” said the president in regard to regional integration. “If we think of the FTAAP as a mighty river, each series of discussions can be considered to be a small tributary. We need to make these various tributaries flow into the larger river,” Park noted. 

President Park holds a summit with Philippine President 

Benigno Simeon Aquino III at Cheong Wa Dae on Oct. 17.

During the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting held under the theme of “Resilient Asia-Pacific, Engine of Global Growth,” President Park discussed with the leaders of the 21 APEC member economics such topics as APEC’s role in strengthening the multilateral trading regime and APEC’s vision for the region’s connectivity as well as sustainable growth with equity. 

President Park attended the 16th ASEAN-Korea Summit at the International Convention Center in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei on Oct. 9 in which she and the leaders of the 10 ASEAN member nations took stock of the progress of ASEAN-Korea cooperation and discussed the direction of future collaboration.

Welcoming President Park to her first summit, Sultan Hassanal Bokiah of Brunei said he was deeply impressed by Korea’s growth and President Park’s leadership. The sultan also expressed his gratitude to Korea for sparing no efforts in providing active cooperation with and support to ASEAN and for making substantive contributions to strengthening the framework of cooperation for ASEAN+3.

He said he had confidence in and supported all the ASEAN policies of President Park, including the effort to give concrete substance to the ASEAN-Korea FTA.

In return, President Park said Korea and ASEAN regarded one another as important partners and made efforts together for mutual progress, including the conclusion of the ASEAN-Korea FTA, the establishment of the strategic partnership, and the installation of the ASEAN-Korea Center and the Mission of the Republic of Korea to ASEAN. 

President Park noted that ASEAN+3 had achieved remarkable accomplishments in the financial sector, including the Chiang-Mai Initiative and the ASEAN+3 Macroe-conomic Research Office (AMRO), since its inauguration in 1997 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. She went on to explain that the forum had made significant efforts in other sectors as well, such as putting in place a common food security mechanism within the region, which had resulted in the effectuation of the ASEAN+3 Three Emerg-ency Rice Reserve.

President Park holds a summit with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski at Cheong Wa Dae on Oct. 22.

The leaders of the ASEAN+3 took note of the fact that the forum had grown into the most well-established multilateral cooperative body in East Asia since its inception by promoting substantive cooperation and expanding the scope of collaboration into some 20 areas, including finance, agriculture, environment, disaster management, healthcare, culture and education. On top of this, the participating leaders saw eye to eye on the necessity to work together to deal with various tasks, including food security and the financial crisis, that require concerted endeavors at the regional level.

President Park held talks with Singa-porean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister Tony Abbott of the Comm-onwealth of Australia, and President Thein Sein of Myanmar on the sidelines of the ASEAN+3 and East Asia Summit (EAS) talks. 

President Park meets with GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt at Cheong Wa Dae on Oct. 24.

President Park attended the 8th EAS in which the participating leaders exchanged views on major regional and international issues, including climate change, disaster management, and food and energy security, and discussed the direction of the EAS to make further progress.

The leaders shared the view that the EAS has drawn more global attention since the United States and Russia became members in 2011 and that as a forum for strategic dialogue and cooperation on major issues within the region, including politics, security, and the economy, the role of the EAS with a membership of all key nations in the region has grown increasingly important. 

State Visit to Indonesia

President Park and Indonesian President Yudhoyono held a summit on Oct. 12 in which the two leaders had in-depth discussions on concrete ways to further develop the two nations’ strategic partnership in a wide range of areas, including politics, the economy, society, and culture. 

President Park offered congratulations on Indonesia’s successful hosting of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Bali as the chair. She also expressed the hope that the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, to be held in Indonesia in December, would produce good results to beef up the multilateral trading system. She promised that Korea would continue to actively cooperate to this end.