Southeast Asia lies within the greater East Asian neighbourhood and any action in the Korean Peninsula is bound to have ramifications in this region.

“ASEAN will likely be affected, although the impact will not be uniformly felt across all ASEAN member countries, since some member states have more substantive relations with North Korea than others,” Bernard Loo Fook Weng, Associate Professor of the Military Studies Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies told The ASEAN Post.

According to Loo, ASEAN members like Malaysia have already been facing pressure by the international community especially by countries like Japan and South Korea who are more directly affected by Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

“ASEAN has been active in engaging North Korea in dialogue through the ARF since the 1990s. Yet, its effects are very limited. The diplomatic efforts and sanctions from the UN have not been effective as well, so it is hard to tell what works and what doesn’t,” said Daniel Wei Boon Chua Assistant Professor of the Military Studies Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in an email reply to The ASEAN Post.