S KOREA APPEALED FOR BIDEN’S ‘SUMMIT-LEVEL’ INTERESTS IN NORTH KOREA

South Korea’s foreign minister said on Tuesday she had raised the need for US President-elect Joe Biden’s administration to pay “summit-level” attention to reopen denuclearisation talks with North Korea during meetings in the United States this week.

Kang Kyung-wha met a number of Biden allies in Washington, including Democratic Senators Chris Coons and Chris Murphy and John Allen, chief of the Brookings Institution think tank, after arriving there for talks with secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

Kang said she conveyed the South Korean government’s commitment to advance the alliance and work together on North Korea issues, while hearing about Biden’s views on foreign policy issues during the meetings.

“I highlighted the need to reinforce diplomatic efforts to achieve the goal of completely denuclearising the Korean peninsula given the urgency of the North Korean nuclear issue,” she told reporters. “I put a particular emphasis on the importance of a swift restart of US-North Korea dialogue...as an issue that requires a priority, summit-level interests.”

Asean leaders to sign China-backed trade deal

Southeast Asian leaders start meetings on Thursday that are expected to lead to an ambitious China-backed trade deal at a time the still uncertain election result in the US leaves questions over its engagement in the region.

Leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to conclude talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) this Sunday.

The deal, which is expected to be signed later on Sunday on the sidelines of a mostly online, four-day Asean summit in Hanoi, will take years to complete.