[News Today] YOON VISITS PHILIPPINES

[LEAD]
President Yoon Suk Yeol has begun his three-nation Southeast Asian tour, first arriving in Manila, Philippines, to participate in the ASEAN summit. In a pre-tour interview with international media, he issued stern warnings against North Korea's nuclear threats and trash balloon provocations.

[REPORT]
The first state visit in 13 years.

President Yoon is greeted at the airport by officials from the Philippine government.
His first schedule was a visit to a monument decicated to fallen soldiers of the Korean War.

The main purpose of Yoon's tour of three Southeast Asian nations is economic territorial expansion and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

Yoon will hold a summit with the leaders of the Philippines and Singapore. He will also attend the ASEAN summit to meet with other regional leaders to build multi-layered cooperation.

Park Chun-sup/ Senior Pres. Secretary for economic affairs (Oct. 3)
Opportunity to deepen and expand ASEAN-Korea economic cooperation.

Yoon will also likely have his first meeting with the new Japanese prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit.

Prior to the tour, Yoon gave an interview to foreign media, in which he again condemned the North Korean regime.

Regarding Kim Jong-un's nuclear threats, Yoon pointed out that the lie about nuclear development not targeting South Korea has been fully exposed.

Yoon warned that if Pyongyang's trash balloon provocations pose a threat to the public there will be unbearable consequences.

The first day of Yoon's trip ended with dinner with local Koreans.
On Monday, he held a summit with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr..

The two leaders discussed cooperation in various sectors, including infrastructure development, maritime security, nuclear power and national defense.