Yoon begins six-day, three-nation Southeast Asia tour for Asean-related meetings

President Yoon Suk Yeol began a six-day, three-nation trip to Southeast Asia on Sunday to hold bilateral summits and attend Asean-related meetings.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and first lady Kim Keon Hee, center, are received by an honor guard as they arrive at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila for a state visit to the Philippines on Sunday. Yoon began a six-day visit to the Philippines, Singapore and Laos to take part in bilateral summits and attend a series of Asean-related meetings. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol began a six-day, three-nation trip to Southeast Asia on Sunday to hold bilateral summits and attend Asean-related meetings.

Yoon, accompanied by first lady Kim Keon Hee, departed from the Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, to head to the Philippines and Singapore for state visits and a trip to Laos for a series of meetings related with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

For the first leg of the trip, Yoon and Kim arrived in the Philippines on Sunday. As their first schedule, the presidential couple paid respects at the Korean War Memorial in Manila. Yoon will hold a bilateral summit with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday and attend a Korea-Philippines business forum.

He will begin a two-day state visit to Singapore on Tuesday. The visit will include talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and attendance at a Korea-Singapore business forum. On Wednesday, he will deliver an address on South Korea's unification vision.

Yoon will head to Laos for the final leg of his trip on Wednesday and participate in a series of Asean-related meetings. These include the Asean summit and Asean Plus Three summit, involving South Korea, China and Japan, on Thursday and the East Asian Summit, a regional security forum, on Friday.

During this trip, Yoon will also focus on upgrading relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership with Asean to deepen cooperation with Southeast Asia. This builds on the Yoon administration's Korea-Asean Solidarity Initiative, or KASI, announced at last year's Asean meetings in Indonesia, to strengthen strategic cooperation with the Southeast Asia region, a core component of its Indo-Pacific strategy.

Seoul and Tokyo are also working to arrange Yoon's first bilateral talks with Japan's new prime minister, Shigeru Ishida, on the sidelines of the Asean gathering.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, accompanied by first lady Kim Keon Hee, departs from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Sunday to head for a six-day visit to the Philippines, Singapore and Laos. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

In a written interview with AP published Sunday, Yoon said he would "stress the importance of denuclearization of North Korea, which is a prerequisite for realizing a free, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region" at the Asean-related meetings.

"This will serve to send a clear message that the international community will never condone North Korea's reckless actions," he added.

Yoon also told AP that North Korea's recent rare disclosure of its secretive uranium enrichment facility last month was likely an attempt to grab U.S. attention ahead of its presidential election in November.

He noted that North Korea will likely stage major provocations like another nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test around the U.S. election.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, and first lady Kim Keon Hee, left, pay respects at the Korean War Memorial in Manila on Sunday, beginning a state visit to the Philippines, the first leg of a three-nation, six-day trip to Southeast Asia. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

"North Korea seems to have recently disclosed its nuclear facility in order to draw attention from the United States and the international community in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election," Yoon said.

Yoon said that a key issue that South Korea plans to raise at Asean is the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership with Asean, adding that Seoul will further expand cooperation with Asean in areas such as politics, military exchanges, cybersecurity, environments and a safety net against financial crises.

The 10 Asean member states are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]