By Kim Jae-kyoung
Staff Reporter


Finance-Economy Minister Han Duck-soo Thursday suggested inviting North Korea as a special guest to the next APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting, if the ongoing six-way nuclear talks are resolved successfully.
During his opening speech at the 12th APEC meeting among finance ministers held in Cheju, Han, as the chairman of the two-day gathering, said that we should now consider filling in the missing links of the pacific economic rim.

``As the first step to achieving this goal, I suggest inviting non-members of the Asia-Pacific region to the APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting as special guests,’’ he said.

``On condition that there is significant progress at the on-going six-party talks, I think we could consider North Korea to be our first guest,’’ he added. ``The presence of such non-members in the meetings will bring greater significance to the APEC and help accelerate the process of establishing peace and prosperity in this region.’’

Han also stressed the need for creating a multinational development program for lesser-developed regions in Northeast Asia, including the Northeastern parts of China, Siberia and North Korea, to support and accelerate the development of this region.

``I believe the time has come for us to seriously discuss the launch of a multilateral development scheme, which has already been proposed several times by various entities,’’ he said.

This is the first time the Korean government has suggested inviting North Korea to the APEC officials meeting. Korea has made such suggestions at annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, but they were rejected.

The suggestion was made based on the judgment that gaining support from regional cooperation bodies is a prerequisite for helping North Korea join international economic organizations.

He added that APEC should become more action-oriented, stressing that APEC member economies need to develop more cooperative projects into agreements and concrete actions.

Han, who is also a deputy prime minister, stressed the need for concerted policy efforts among APEC member economies to cope with current global risks, such as high oil prices, global imbalances and the recent real estate boom, to ensure sustained growth of the global regional economies.

``Persistent high oil prices is an issue faced by all parts of the world. Ever-soaring oil prices are also pressing hard against most APEC member economies, thus clouding the growth forecast of the Asia-Pacific region,’’ he said.

``It is, therefore, urgent for oil producing and consuming economies to join their efforts to bring demand and supply into balance, while enhancing the efficiency of the oil market in the short-term,’’ he added.

He warned of the soaring real estate price across the world, noting that an unprecedented bubble is being formed in the market.

``Should this bubble burst, it will seriously hamper the growth of the respective economies as well as the global economy,’’ he said. ``Each government should closely monitor the movements of real estate prices and the macro economy, and take necessary measures.’’

Touching on the two themes of this meeting, he said that resolving obstacles to capital movement and addressing the possible challenges that would be brought by population ageing are important issues that APEC member economies should deal with together.

He added that the Korean government is seeking to release the so-called Cheju Declaration on population ageing.

``It will be highly significant for the 21 finance ministers to officially acknowledge the importance of joining the efforts of the APEC members and to declare their commitment to address the challenges of population ageing for the first time in APEC meeting among finance ministers,’’ he said.

kjk@koreatimes.co.kr