U.S., Chinese, Russian ambassadors to discuss multilateral security regime

By Lee Chi-dong
JEJU ISLAND, Aug. 13 (Yonhap) -- The ambassadors of regional powers were to
discuss how to promote multilateral security cooperation in East Asia later
Thursday at the Jeju Peace Forum underway in this southern resort island,
organizers of the event said.

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens will have a roundtable meeting
with her Chinese counterpart Cheong Younghwa, Russian Ambassador Gleb
Ivashentsov, EU Ambassador Brian McDonald, and South Korea's Vice Foreign
Minister Shin Kak-soo, in which they will exchange views on ways to revive the
six-way talks on the North Korean nuclear program and boost cooperation for
regional security on a multilateral level.
It is rare for the high-profile envoys to sit together and discuss a vision for
regional security especially at a time when close consultations among related
nations on dealing with the North have gained urgency. Pyongyang has been staying
away from the six-way talks with the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan.
"We also invited the Japanese ambassador to South Korea to attend the session but
he said he has other schedules," Chin Haeng-nam, senior researcher at the Jeju
Peace Institute, which organizes the Jeju forum said.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at
the conference before the envoys' session.
In the afternoon, a group of South Korean and foreign experts will discuss ways
to enhance the national image under the theme of "Nation branding in global
context: trends, issues, and practices."
Euh Yoon-dae, chairman of South Korea's Presidential Council on Nation Branding,
will open the session with a speech on "Korea's nation branding strategy."
Presenters include Simon Anholt, author of the Anholt Nation Brands Index, and
Lee Dong-hun, research fellow at the Samsung Economic Research Institute.
lcd@yna.co.kr