Japan, South Korea help fund ASEAN virus response

Foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea pledged to contribute 1 million U.S. dollars to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) COVID-19 fund.

During an online meeting on Wednesday, South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-hwa and Japanese foreign minister Motegi Toshimitsu said that the amount will be used to buy medical supply and to finance the development of a vaccine against the coronavirus.

The meeting was held amid the immense crisis brought by the coronavirus pandemic, the rising tensions in the disputed South China Sea and the escalating regional rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

The 10 ASEAN bloc's foreign ministers would also meet Asian and Western counterparts, including those from the U.S. and China, for talks later in the week that would be capped by an annual security forum.

Southeast Asian nations have been impacted by the pandemic differently, with hard-hit Philippines grappling with more than 240,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections, including nearly 4,000 deaths, and the tiny socialist state of Laos reporting just 22 cases.

The Philippines and Indonesia separately have twice more infections than China, where the outbreak started.