N. Korea to top ASEAN meetings

South China Sea, Muslim militants on Manila agenda

MANILA, Philippines — Alarm over North Korea’s missile tests, a tentative step to temper South China Sea disputes, and unease over a disastrous siege by pro-islamic State group militants will grab the spotlight at annual meetings of Southeast Asia’s top diplomats and their Asian and Western counterparts.

The 27 nations participating in three days of talks and photo-ops in Manila starting Saturday include the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South and North Korea.

The Philippines is host as this year’s chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. It’s an unwieldy 10-nation collective of democracies, monarchies and authoritarian regimes founded half a century ago in the Cold War era that prides itself on being a bulwark of diplomacy in a region scarred by its history of wars and interminable conflicts.

North Korea

Following North Korea’s recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the U.S. and its allies quickly signaled their intention to impose additional sanctions on it with a U.N. resolution. Along with South Korea and Japan, the U.S. is expected to lead condemnations of the launches at the ASEAN Regional Forum, annual security talks to be held Monday. North Korea has confirmed that its top diplomat, Ri Yong Ho, will attend, raising the specter of a verbal showdown in the 27-nation forum, which also includes North Korea’s main ally, China.

Ahead of the meeting, a senior State Department official told reporters in Washington that the U.S. is moving to have North Korea suspended from ARF for violating its conflict-prevention objectives. It’s part of a broader American effort to isolate North Korea diplomatically and force it to abandon its missile tests and nuclear weapons program.

Removing North Korea from the grouping, however, would be tough. There is no exclusion procedure and ARF decides by consensus, so any U.S. move against North Korea could be defeated by any country, including China.

South China Sea

Chinese and ASEAN foreign ministers are to endorse a two-page framework for a long-sought code of conduct in the disputed South China Sea when they meet Saturday. The Philippines calls the framework a major step in efforts to ease potential flashpoints.

Marawi siege

The ASEAN meetings are being held under heavy security in Manila as thousands of Philippine troops attempt to quell a siege by Islamic State group-linked militants that has dragged on for more than two months in southern Marawi city.

The fighting has left nearly 700 people dead, including more than 520 gunmen, and displaced the entire population of the mosque-studded city.