MANILA -- South Korea's top diplomat will make her debut on the multilateral diplomatic stage Sunday by joining ministerial meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where she will discuss cooperation on diverse issues, including North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha arrived in Manila on Saturday and held back-to-back bilateral talks with counterparts from Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia.

On Sunday, Kang will participate in the South Korea-ASEAN meeting at the Philippine International Convention Center to discuss cooperation among the Asian countries. Kang is expected to ask for the 10-member ASEAN's support for South Korea's approach to the North involving both pressure and dialogue.


Kang also plans to hold bilateral talks with major powers, including the United States and China. The meetings draw keen attention as they come after the United Nations Security Council adopted a new sanctions resolution against the North in response to its recent intercontinental missile tests,

Resolution 2371, the eighth adopted by the Security Council since 2006, focuses on making it hard for the reclusive state to obtain hard currency that could be channeled to making weapons.

In the meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi scheduled in the afternoon, their future cooperation against the North's evolving nuclear capabilities will be high on the agenda. Despite this, the deepening friction over South Korea's move to install a US missile shield on its soil could emerge as a major stumbling block, observers said. (Yonhap)