Southeast Asian foreign ministers met Tuesday with their counterparts from powerhouses China, Japan and South Korea to discuss creation of an East Asian economic community and progress in encouraging North Korea to denuclearize. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations met with their northeast Asian counterparts to tackle a long agenda aimed at improving political, security and economic cooperation. A long-discussed proposal for an East Asian trade bloc, first suggested by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, was to be reviewed during the two-hour session, along with financial cooperation with growing economic giant China, which also is attending the ASEAN Regional Forum, the area's largest security meeting. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi called for greater efforts to improve the region's economy and internal unity. «Economic development in our region is still unbalanced and some countries still lag behind in economic and social development,» he said. «The overall competitiveness of East Asia needs to be enhanced.» The ministers were likely to issue a joint statement praising North Korea for shutting down its Yongbyon nuclear facility while urging it to work toward denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. They also were expected to call attention to North Korea's humanitarian needs and urge the reclusive country to honor basic human rights, the Associated Press reported. ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
