South Korea and the U.S. have urged North Korea to resume dialogue during a regional forum held virtually on Friday.

According to Seoul's Foreign Ministry, Minister Chung Eui-yong attended the foreign ministerial meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum(ARF) and spoke about South Korea's continued effort to restart talks with Pyongyang based on agreements made between the leaders of the two Koreas.

Chung called on North Korea to implement the promise to turn the Korean Peninsula into a land of peace, free of nuclear weapons and nuclear threats.

He also described the recent restoration of inter-Korean communication lines as a positive step to jump-start the peace process and hoped for cross-border cooperation in various areas in the mid-to-long term.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also conveyed a message to the North through the regime's ambassador to ASEAN An Kwang-il, who attended the forum instead of the foreign minister.

Blinken reiterated that Washington remains willing to meet anytime, anywhere without preconditions, as long as Pyongyang designates a representative with negotiating power.

Ambassador An, who also serves as North Korea's envoy to Indonesia, is not known to have directly responded to Blinken's remark. He neither mentioned South Korea or the U.S. in his statement, but mainly talked about his country's efforts on pandemic prevention and economic recovery.

The post-coup crisis in Myanmar was also addressed during the forum, and a joint statement on Youth, Peace and Security, which was co-sponsored by South Korea, was adopted.

[Photo : YONHAP News]