Anchor: Chile's sudden withdrawal from hosting this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) summit next month has put President Moon Jae-in's summit diplomacy in disarray, prompting his aides to reschedule his overseas trips and meetings with global leaders.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced on Wednesday he had taken the "painful" decision to cancel hosting next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) summit, as well as the United Nations COP25 climate conference in December.

The decision comes after nearly two weeks of protests and street violence in the Latin American nation over economic inequality and social welfare, leaving dozens of people dead.

It is the first time since the-now 21-member multilateral bloc was founded in 1989 that the annual leaders' forum has been called off.

President Moon Jae-in had planned to attend the APEC summit in Santiago from November 16 to 17, where he was hoping to meet separately with world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, to seek ways to break the stalled efforts to denuclearize North Korea.

The APEC summit was also expected to set the stage for a possible meeting between Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe amid a bilateral row over colonial-era issues, trade and Seoul's termination of a military intel-sharing deal involving Washington.

Prior to attending the APEC summit, Moon was scheduled to make an official visit to Mexico for summit talks with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

While Moon's spokesperson Ko Min-jung on Thursday said the top office will keep an eye on the situation, his aides are reportedly scrambling to reschedule the president's summit diplomacy in November.

Although it's still possible that APEC members may seek a new venue for this year's summit, Moon will most likely opt to discuss North Korea and pending alliance issues with Trump over the phone.

The South Korean president could visit Washington for a summit with Trump after Mexico, but the Mexico trip itself could be rescheduled under the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Moon is scheduled to visit Bangkok from next Sunday to Tuesday to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN)-Plus-Three summit, involving the leaders of ASEAN, South Korea, China and Japan.

In line with his New Southern Policy seeking increased cooperation with ASEAN, Moon will host a special summit with ASEAN leaders in Busan from November 25 to 27, marking the 30th anniversary of South Korea's relations with the regional bloc.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.