Third Asia-Europe Meeting opens; 'Seoul Declaration for Peace' adopted

The leaders of 26 Asian and European nations held the Third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Friday at the COEX Convention Center in Seoul. The heads of state unanimously adopted the Seoul Declaration for Peace on the Korean peninsula, a five-point agreement that included a joint pledge to improve relations between the ASEM members and North Korea.

In the declaration, which was adopted by the first political conference on politics and security, the ASEM called for the member states to engage in dialogue, personnel exchanges and economic cooperation with North Korea and improve relations with the North through Pyongyang's participation in multilateral dialogues.

Welcoming the June 15 inter-Korean summit, they congratulated President Kim Dae-Jung and North Korean Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il on their courage and vision, expressing hope that the inter-Korean summit agreement would be continuously implemented.

Holding the second round of the multilateral summit on economic and financial affairs in the afternoon, the leaders of the governments adopted 23 out of 26 projects (16 approved and 7 watched) raised by the member states, including the buildup of the Trans-Eurasian Information Network, cooperation for the elimination of the digital divide and the convening of a conference for the establishment of an e-commerce support system.

The second summit also adopted all four projects that Seoul proposed, including the installation of a scholarship fund for inter-regional exchanges of students and professors.

At the second summit meeting, the participants also agreed on mutual cooperation to ease China and Vietnam¡¯s admission into the World Trade Organization (WTO) as soon as possible and approved the extension of the ASEM Trust Fund, which was to be operated from 1998 to 2001 in a bid to prevent a second economic crisis in Asia.

Earlier, in his opening address at the ASEM summit session, President Kim stressed that reconciliation and cooperation are inalienable and a common aspiration of mankind, noting that the progress in South-North Korean relations served as a good example of this. Saying that he fully supports the improvement of relations between the United States and North Korea, the President expressed hope that the relationship between Japan and the North would improve drastically.

At the same time, Kim proposed five tasks for the Seoul conference: the adoption of the Asia-Europe Cooperation Framework (AECF), strengthening of cooperation in the educational and cultural sectors, discussion of substantial economic problems and the enhancement of democracy and human rights.

Meanwhile, some European member states expressed dissatisfaction over the operation of the ASEM conference, contending that participation in the meeting is meaningless if participants are unable to hold full-fledged discussions on universal human values such as human rights out of concern for Asian values like the principle of nonintervention in domestic affairs.