North Korea to sign non-aggression treaty with ASEAN: Singapore

North Korea told Singapore, current chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), that it would accede to the treaty next week.

The signing ceremony will take place after the ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia's main security gathering, on July 24, the Singapore foreign ministry said.

"ASEAN warmly welcomes the DPRK's decision," it said, using the formal initials of the reclusive communist state which tested a nuclear bomb in 2006.

"ASEAN believes that the DPRK's accession to the TAC will strengthen relations between ASEAN and the DPRK, and also help promote peace, security and cooperation in the region."

The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), originally signed by ASEAN members in 1976, has since expanded to include other nations.

North Korea would be the 15th signatory from outside Southeast Asia.

"It is very significant," Mely Caballero-Anthony, an associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told AFP.

She said  ....