North Korea–Philippines relations

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North Korea-Philippines relations
Map indicating locations of North Korea and Philippines

North Korea
Philippines

The North Korea–Philippines relations (Korean: 필리핀-조선민주주의인민공화국 관계) relates to the diplomatic relationship of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of the Philippines.

The Philippines has a non-resident ambassador in Beijing and North Korea has representation through its embassy in Bangkok and resident embassy in Hanoi.

History[edit]

Ambeth Ocampo and Mun Jae-choi shake hands after the signing of the DPRK Cultural Cooperation Agreement in 2006

Early years[edit]

During the Korean War, the Philippines allied with South Korea, against North Korea.

Efforts to establish formal ties between the two countries began as early as the 1970s, but such efforts saw no significant development by the 1980s. Factors hindering such efforts include the Philippines' traditional anti-communist foreign policy at that time as well as suspicions that North Korea had been supporting the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA).[1] Limited North Korean support to the NPA was alleged by a 1990 report of the Patterns of Global Terrorism by the United States Department of State.[2]

Formal relations establishment[edit]

In 1998, as chair of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Philippines initiated the process of admitting North Korea as a member of the forum but the latter had stated that Southeast Asian countries, such as Brunei and the Philippines, should first establish formal relations with North Korea before it would join the ARF.[1]

The foreign ministers of the two countries met in New York in September 1999, in the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, to discuss the improvement of bilateral ties. This was followed by a meeting in Colombia, during the Non-Aligned Movement Conference in April 2000, where they agreed in principle to establish diplomatic relations.[1]

The two countries formally established diplomatic relations on July 12, 2000, upon the signing of a joint communiqué by then Filipino Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo L. Siazon, Jr. and North Korean Ambassador to Thailand, Jo In-chol, in a ceremony conducted at the Department of Foreign Affairs office in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines.[3][4][1] This followed more than 20 years of negotiations.[5] The Philippines was one of the last Asian countries to establish official diplomatic relations with North Korea.[4] North Korea within the same month joined the Asean Regional Forum.[1]

Further development[edit]

It was also reported in the early 2010s, that North Korea proposed to establish a resident embassy in Manila, which Philippine officials rejected. The rejection was reportedly due to Philippine authorities' suspicion on North Korean diplomats as they were deemed to have a reputation to conduct "extra-diplomatic activities" such as smuggling and counterfeiting in other foreign countries. Philippine Foreign Secretary Siazon insisted that North Korea had never made such request. However, he remained open to the expansion of diplomatic ties between the two countries.[5][6]

The Philippines, as an ally of South Korea and the United States, remains concerned and continues to condemn North Korea's nuclear missile tests which is considered to be in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions banning North Korea to use ballistic technology in any purpose.[7][8]

In March 2016, in compliance with United Nations (UN) sanctions, the Philippines impounded a North Korean ship, Jin Teng, but found no explosives or banned substances.[9] Several weeks later, another ship, Theresa Begonia, was impounded and again no banned substances were found.[10]

Economic relations[edit]

According to the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry, the primary exports of the Philippines to North Korea were bananas, computers and integrated circuit boards.[11]

In 2017, the Philippines was reportedly the third largest trading partner of North Korea according to the defector-led & run Daily NK web portal, next to India and China with the latter accounting for 90 percent of North Korea's trade.[12]

Trade relations were suspended by the Philippines in September 2017 to comply with the United Nations Security Council Resolution which called for further sanctions against North Korea over its July 2017 missile tests.[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Parasa, Juanito (23 September 2017). "The Philippines vis-à-vis NKorea". The Manila Times. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  2. ^ "1990 Global Terrorism: State-Sponsored Terrorism". fas.org.
  3. ^ "Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Republic of the Philippines and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (PDF) (in English and Korean). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  4. ^ a b "DPRK Diplomatic Relations — National Committee on North Korea". Ncnk.org. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  5. ^ a b "3RD LD: N. Korea, Philippines establish diplomatic ties. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. Kyodo News International. 12 July 2000. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  6. ^ "Philippines, North Korea agree to boost bilateral relations". Monsters and Critics. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 29 July 2007. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  7. ^ Carcamo, Dennis (12 December 2012). "Philippines protests NKorea rocket launch". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  8. ^ "Philippines to press North Korea to stop missile test". Inquirer Global Nation. 26 March 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  9. ^ "North Korea ship impounded in Philippines".
  10. ^ "Philippines seize second North Korea-operated ship".
  11. ^ a b Mogato, Manuel; Petty, Martin; Birsel, Robert (8 September 2017). "Philippines suspends trade with North Korea to comply with U.N. resolution". Reuters. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  12. ^ "Report: China accounts for more than 90% of North Korea's total trade". Daily NK. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2022.

External links[edit]

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