AFP-Japanese foreign minister depar

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Subject: AFP-Japanese foreign minister departs for regional talks

Japanese foreign minister departs for regional talks
TOKYO, July 25 (AFP) - Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura left here
Sunday for Singapore to attend annual regional meetings with a warning
against North Korea's suspected plan to test-fire a missile.
Komura will also call for cooperation in preventing conflicts and ensure
Japan's commitments to economic aid at the meetings organised by the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), officials said.

He is scheduled to take part in a two-day session of the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF), followed by a meeting of foreign ministers from ASEAN memeber
countries and "dialogue partners," the officials said.

The ARF, which has evolved into Asia's foremost forum on security affairs,
groups the 10 ASEAN members, plus Australia, Canada, China, the European
Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Korea,
Russia and the United States.

ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

On the sidelines of the talks, Komura plans to meet South Korean Foreign
Affairs and Trade Minister Hong Soon Young and US Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright to coordinate policies on North Korea, the officials
said.

Komura has vowed to seek a joint ARF message to discourage North Korea from
its reported plan to test-launch a missile.

The unpredictable Stalinist state shocked the region in August last year by
firing a medium-range Taepodong missile over Japan and into the Pacific, in
what it called an operation to place a satellite into orbit.

Japan has joined the United States and South Korea in threatening to impose
sanctions if North Korea goes ahead with the launch of a Taepodong-2 which
can overfly Alaska and Guam with a range of up to 6,000 kilometers (3,750
miles).

The foreign minister is also expected to propose the ARF boost its
arbitration mechanism to prevent conflicts, the officials said.

After the ASEAN meetings, Komura is scheduled to fly on to Indonesia
Wednesday for talks with President B.J. Habibie, Foreign Minister Ali
Alatas, and military commander General Wiranto.


He will also meet Megawati Sukarnoputri, leader of the opposition Indonesian
Democratic Party for Struggle (PDIP), which led in last month's general
election.

Komura may also meet East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao, who is
under house detention in Jakarta, according to press reports.