Organizers of the APEC summit say they support Chile's decision to cancel the meeting,...as safety comes first.
And eyes are now on whether the event can be re-arranged... or whether this will be the first cancelled meeting in APEC's more than 30-year history.
Kim Min-ji explains.
Chile's decision to call off next month's APEC summit caught many off guard.
It's the first time in APEC's 31-year history that a scheduled gathering has been cancelled.
It was an unprecedented announcement given that the APEC summit is such a large-scale event and the fact that heads of states were to attend.
It also puts on hold a series of anticipated sideline meetings that world leaders were going to have.
In a tweet, the APEC secretariat said the forum supported Chile's decision to suspend the leaders' meetings,... adding that the safety and welfare of Chile and APEC members are the top priority.
Without any mention of alternatives for this year,... the tweet said Malaysia will host in 2020.
In the past, although incomparable in scale,... an ASEAN meeting was postponed by a month in December 2006 in the Philippines due to a natural disaster,... although there was speculation it could have been triggered by terror threats.. and anti-government protests by human rights organizations, at the time.
Eyes are on whether the APEC summit will be held at a later date this year... and if so, when and where.
Speculation has it that organizers could skip a year as it would not be easy to make the necessary security arrangements given that it involves heads of states.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.