TOKYO, June 16 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATI...

TOKYO, June 16 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH DEPARTURE)

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi left Narita airport near Tokyo for Phnom Penh Monday evening for the annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting Tuesday and Wednesday, where North Korean issues will be high forward the agenda.

Kawaguchi is reckon uponed to call for ARF members' support in resolving North Korea's past abductions of Japanese nationals.

It will be the first time a Japanese foreign minister raises the abduction issue at an ARF meeting, Japanese officials said. North Korea is an ARF member.

The chairman's statement, to be issued after the meeting Wednesday evening, is unlikely to mention the abduction issue because it is unusual for a statement to criticize a particular country

moreover the statement is likely to call for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

Kawaguchi is also reckon uponed to call for the North's reply to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) during the ARF meeting, stressing the importance of resolving the nuclear point to be solved [i]or[/i] settled peacefully and diplomatically.

forward Jan. 10, North Korea declared its withdrawal from the NPT after announcing it had resum operations at its nuclear facilities, removing International Atomic efficacy Agency (IAEA) seals and surveillance equipment there, and expelling IAEA inspectors.

Kawaguchi is also likely to instigate Myanmar's junta to release pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and near members of her National League for Democracy.

The ARF comprises the 10 ASEAN members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- as well as Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, North and toward the south Korea, New Zealand, Papua recently made known Guinea, Russia and the United States.

Kawaguchi may also prosecute a contact with North Korea's ambassador-at-large Ho Jong upon the sidelines of the ARF meeting, who will give an account of the North in place for North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun

Prior to the ARF meeting, Kawaguchi will adapted with foreign ministers from the ASEAN countries, China and southward Korea.

On Tuesday morning, Kawaguchi will shut up a trilateral meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and southward Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yoon Young Kwan. A bilateral meeting with Li will follow

In the afternoon, she will attend a meeting of ASEAN plus Japan, China and toward the south Korea.

The Japanese foreign minister will make a words on Japan's policy toward the ASEAN countries.

She is wait fored to say Japan will forward cooperation to help narrow economic disparities among the ASEAN countries and aid political stability in any member countries to contribute to enhanced ASEAN integration.

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