1. Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Yoon Soon-gu of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (ROK) attended as the head of delegation of the ROK the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) and East Asia Summit (EAS) Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) held in Bangkok, the Kingdom of Thailand, on September 18-19.

○ Participants reviewed the progress in preparations for the APT Summit and East Asia Summit set to take place in Thailand on Monday, November 4.

2. At the APT SOM, the participants reviewed the progress on the implementation of the East Asia Vision Group II (EAVG II) selected recommendations which have been led by the ROK government, and were briefed by Thailand, Chair of ASEAN in 2019, on the progress in preparations for the upcoming APT Summit.

3. At the EAS SOM, the participants discussed EAS Leaders’ Statements, which are under preparation with the aim to be adopted at the EAS set to take place in November this year, and reviewed the progress in preparations for the upcoming East Asia Summit.

4. During the discussions at the APT SOM, Deputy Minister Yoon asked for the APT countries’ attention to the fact that Japan’s export-restrictive measures which go against the principle of free trade can undermine cooperation in East Asia. In addition, Deputy Minister Yoon urged the Japanese side to withdraw such measures immediately and to engage in dialogue and negotiations to seek solutions.

○ Deputy Minister Yoon went on to express his deep regret over the fact that although the ROK government has demanded that the Japanese government withdraw such measures in the wake of many occasions, including the APT and EAS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in August this year, Japan is further aggravating the situation by pushing ahead with measures to remove the ROK from its whitelist on August 28.

5. Deputy Minister Yoon also held bilateral meetings with the delegations of some ASEAN countries, and asked for the ASEAN side’s active cooperation in preparations for the successful 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit and the 1^st Mekong-ROK Summit scheduled to take place in Busan in late November, 2019.