Nusa Dua (Antara Bali) - Indonesia has the potential and is ready to act as a facilitator of efforts to resolve the conflict between North and South Korea, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.
"There will be a bilateral meeting soon between the South Korean president and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and this will be an important opportunity for them to exchange views on the problem faced by that country and on how we can contribute to efforts to find a solution," he told ANTARA.
Marty is in Bali to lead the Indonesian delegation to the 3rd Bali Democracy Forum on December 9 - 10.
A total of 71 countries and international organizations have already confirmed their plan to participate in the event including three heads of state and government.
At the first BDF only 39 countries attended and in the second meeting the number rose to 42. This year 42 countries would send ministerial level officials.
Three heads of state and government who would attend the meeting are South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam and Prime Minister Kay Ralla Xanana Gusmao of Timor Leste.
President Yudhoyono and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak would co-chair the meeting.
Marty said Indonesia had no problems with either South Korea or North Korea. "For us it is not impossible to faciliate communications and the forum for it should not always be an under one roof meeting in which all parties gather. For the time being such a forum would be difficult to rely on to produce a consensus," he said.
He said the best step for now was building mutual confidence step by step. "What is important is to make the situation not to become worse. Situation must first be stabilized. That is the important thing to do while assuring that those responsible must be held responsible," he said.
The situation in the Korean peninsula is very complex, he said, because a lot of dimensions are involved from problems between North and South Koreas, with Japan, nuclear arms, with China to proliferation issue which has so far been facilitated in the six-party forum.
With all those parties Indonesia has good relationship. Indonesia's potential to become a facilitator is open widely but it would all be done with a right target, he said.
"Two weeks ago China called for the resumption of the six-party talks but it was immediately rejected as the time was not right. When a statement should be made and others have to be done in the right time and with a right target. To deal with the situation Indonesia has taken efforts to approach South Korea and China. Indonesia wishes to hear directly the South Korean aspirations," he said.
President Yudhoyono and South Korean president Lee Myung-bak have been scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 3rd Bali Democracy Forum.
"Our message to Koreas is clear namely firmly rejecting the use of violence all the more the one that claimed the lives of innocent people which is against the UN Charter," he said.
Indonesia called on all parties to resume dialogues and diplomacy. "The choice is direct dialogues or more victims would be claimed although at the end there would always be dialogues. Let us start a dialogue without forgetting the ones that have fallen victims," he said.(*)
