Duterte tells NoKor: PH a good dialogue partner

After calling the North Korean leader a maniac, President Duterte is now opening the country’s line for dialogue with the embattled country amid grave concern over its nuclear ambitions.

The President had a brief cordial conversation with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho during the closing ceremony of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional

Forum or ARF in Pasay City. The event coincided with the closing ceremony of the weeklong ASEAN ministerial meetings in Manila.

“We’re very pleased to have you. Thank you,” the President told the North Korean foreign minister while shaking the visitor’s hand at the arrival ceremony.

“You’re always invited here… We would be a good dialogue partner,” Duterte added.

The North Korean official also extended “warm congratulations” to the ASEAN in celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. He earlier attended the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), a crucial venue for security dialogue in the region.

Just last week, the President said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may look chubby and kind but he is actually a “maniac” for playing with dangerous nuclear weapons.

Duterte has expressed concern about the threat posed by North Korea, saying Kim could destroy the region if he makes a mistake of firing nuclear missiles.

North Korea has drawn widespread condemnation for its missile and nuclear tests.

Later yesterday, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the President exchanged pleasantries with the North Korean official during their rare short encounter.

He said the ARF is the only regional dialogue where the North Korea sends its foreign minster.

“This is the only place, only time to be able to see other,” Cayetano said in a later press conference.

Cayetano said he raised the ASEAN call for peace in during his meeting with the North Korean official last Monday.

“We all want peace but if they don’t want to open any door, if they do not give us the light at the end of the tunnel, what can we do but support the rest of the world,” he said.

Cayetano said any instability in the region is “bad” and “wrong.” “You can only have peace if there is stability. You can only have development and progress when there is peace and stability,” he said.