South Korea conducted a nationwide emergency exercise on Friday to raise awareness about fire safety.

The Mayor of Seoul Park Won-soon, took part in the training outside Seoul City Hall, learning how to use a fire extinguisher and fire hose.

City Hall was evacuated and its employees were trained in safety fire safety and resuscitation techniques.

It was the first nationwide safety drill to be conducted since the Sewol ferry disaster in April.

AP TELEVISION

1. Various of government employees in mock evacuation of Seoul City Hall

2. Mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon and other civil workers putting out fire with fire extinguishers

3. Close-up of Park and workers after using fire extinguisher

4. Various of Park using fire hose

5. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Song Doo-suk, Director of Civil Defence Division:

"This Civilian Defence Exercise is a nationwide fire evacuation drill, that took place after the Sewol Ferry disaster. Through this exercise, (we) hope awareness about fire safety among civilians will rise."

6. Various of man demonstrating use of fire extinguisher

7. Various of women practicing resuscitation techniques

Thousands gathered in a square in the centre of the South Korean capital Seoul on Saturday for a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims of last month's ferry disaster and to demand punishment for those responsible.

Many held placards calling for President Park Geun-hye to take responsibility for the April 16 sinking of the Sewol which left over 300 people dead or missing.

The vigil was organised by several organisations, including People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, and Mom's Yellow Handkerchief.

They called on the government to reveal the truth about the sinking, and to punish those responsible for what they say was the mishandling of the emergency on board the ferry.

Out of 476 passengers, 285 bodies have been found dead and 19 victims still remain unaccounted for.

Protesters say that the president, government ministries including South Korean Oceans and Fisheries Ministry, and Coast Guard were all responsible for the aftermath, and have asked for a special investigation into the disaster.

Families of the dead and missing have complained about miscommunications and delays, and about early erroneous reports from the government that most of the ferry's 476 passengers survived.

President Park has apologised, and the prime minister has resigned, over the affair.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of candlelight vigil for ferry victims being held in Cheonggye Plaza, people seated on the ground, chanting

2. Mid of vigil, protesters holding signs and candles and chanting

3. Various of people singing and waving candles and banners

4. Close-up of two candles

5. Close-up of woman crying

6. Protesters holding signs reading (Korean) "Park should assume responsibility" and "Life is more valuable than money" and "Give us back our children"

7. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Jung Hyun-gon, Civil Society Organisations Network, Korea:

"(The purpose of this vigil) is to clearly reveal the truth about this incident. This is a dire calamity where around 300 people died, and it is being said that this incident is a human disaster. It took 40 minutes for the ship to completely sink after the sinking was reported and the coast guard was mobilised. And the fact that they missed this golden window of opportunity is now being revealed. We ask for the truth about this incident to be determined and those responsible to be punished."

8. Various of citizens singing and waving candles

9. Close-up of a picket saying "Life is more valuable than money."

10. Close tilt-up of woman holding a candle

11. Wide of the candlelight vigil

South Korean divers on Saturday continued to search for survivors from a capsized ship that sank off the country's southern coast.

More than 270 people were still missing and at least 29 people have been found dead, following Wednesday's incident.

Bad weather conditions made it difficult for the divers to get inside the ferry on previous occasions.

Most of the divers who left from the Paengmok Port on Saturday morning, which is closest to the ferry's sinking site, to continue their search, were volunteers from rescue units from across the country.

All of them wanted to bring relief to the families of the missing passengers and were willing to jump into murky waters of the East China Sea and battle with strong currents to attempt getting inside the sunken vessel.

Chief of the Disaster Rescue Team from the city of Hwaseong Cho Bae-geun said that despite difficult conditions the divers were happy to help.

"We are not doing this expecting something back, but we do it because we would be grateful that we could have helped," he said.

Another volunteer pointed out, that given the bad conditions, the government should have provided more equipment for the divers to enable them to access the stricken ship.

According to the South Korean government, more than 500 divers were participating in the rescue operation.

On Friday, the coast guard said divers began pumping air into the ship to try to sustain any survivors.

AP TELEVISION

1. Pan across divers joining search for missing ferry passengers

2. Various of divers putting on dry suits

3. Close-up of oxygen tanks

4. Low shot of oxygen tanks and two divers

5. Mid of divers and oxygen tanks

6. Pan across oxygen tanks and diver preparing diving gear

7. Close-up of diver preparing gear

8. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Cho Bae-geun, 40, Chief, Disaster Rescue Team from Hwaseong:

"The situation at the scene is much difficult for ordinary divers to go in. It is very difficult due to the depth, the speed of the water flow and the weather conditions are very hard."

9. Pan from oxygen tanks to divers loading gear onto boat

10. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Cho Bae-geun, 40, Chief, Disaster Rescue Team from Hwaseong:

"We want to help the relatives of the missing passengers, we are very glad to do so. We are not doing this expecting something back, but we do it because we would be grateful that we could have helped."

11. Various of divers

12. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Bae Myeong-su, 58, Jeollanam-do regional representative of the Special Force Airborne Unit Reserves Association:

"The government should be able to provide more supplies for divers, like oxygen tanks, so that the divers who are capable (to dive) can help. However, it has not been done, so I feel very regrettable. Also flash lights (should have been provided) since the visibility in the water is really bad."

13. Tracking shot of diver

14. Various of divers getting on board boat

15. Wide of boat

16. Wide of divers getting on boat

17. Wide of light house and boat passing by

SHOTLIST

1. Exterior of VIP lounge at Changi airport

2. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda walking and shaking hands with airport official

3. Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win walking along corridor

4. Win shaking hands with official

5. Cutaway of cameraman

6. Win getting into car

7. Car leaving

8. Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Bandidkul walking out of airport

9. Sahas getting into car

10. Wide of Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem shaking hands with airport official

11. Wide of news conference

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Andrew Tan, Conference spokesman:

"ASEAN has made it clear its position that the politics should not be meshed with the business of providing aid and offering humanitarian assistance itself. But within the family, ASEAN members will certainly discuss this issue and at the same time get an update from the Myanmar government on the state of political developments. It just had a referendum. They just extended Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest, and they're moving ahead with the roadmap 2010 election. So I think these issues should all be looked at."

13. Cutaway of journalists in news conference

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Andrew Tan, Conference spokesman:

"The way ASEAN has survived all these years is not to allow bilateral disputes to actually affect the grouping's solidarity as well as the grouping's efforts to bank closer together as a regional community. So we encourage both sides (Thailand and Cambodia) to exercise restraint and also to resolve the issue peacefully."

15. Wide of news conference

STORYLINE:

Asia's annual security dialogue with the United States and Europe kicked off in Singapore on Sunday, weighed down by the recalcitrant regimes in North Korea and Myanmar, as well as spiralling food prices and disaster management.

A bubbling border confrontation between Cambodia and Thailand is the latest in a long list of security concerns facing Asian foreign ministers as they get together for the region's premier conference.

Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations arrived in Singapore on Sunday ahead of a working dinner later in the day.

They will hold a series of meetings with counterparts from neighbouring countries, culminating in the main event on Thursday, known as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

At a news conference ahead of official meetings, a conference spokesman, Andrew Tan, spoke about some of the issues to be discussed during the summit.

These included the recent Thailand Cambodia border dispute that has seen both countries reinforce troops along a disputed border area.

"We encourage both sides (Thailand and Cambodia) to exercise restraint and also to resolve the issue peacefully," Tan told reporters.

Also on the agenda will be the behaviour of Myanmar's junta, which has done little to allow democracy and has refused to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

ASEAN has been criticised for doing little to force Myanmar, a fellow member, to change its ways, but was hailed for persuading the junta to accept international aid and relief workers after a devastating cyclone in May.

"ASEAN has made it clear its position that the politics should not be meshed with the business of providing aid and offering humanitarian assistance itself," Tan said.

"But within the family, ASEAN members will certainly discuss this issue and at the same time get an update from the Myanmar government on the state of political developments," he added.

The ARF comprises ASEAN and 16 countries plus the European Union.

In between will be the most keenly watched event on the sidelines of the conference: a meeting of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun and their counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, who are taking part in the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program.

It will be the highest level of contact between the six countries since 2003 when negotiations began to get North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for political and economic incentives.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he did not expect Rice and Pak to meet bilaterally, but expected there would be an informal meeting of ministers taking part in the so-called six-party talks on the North's nuclear programme.

The optimism over North Korea notwithstanding, the forum is clearly worried about the security situation in the region.

"Despite the ARF's best efforts ... security threat and challenges that could undermine the peace, security and stability of the region still exist," said a draft of the statement that will be issued at the end of the meeting. The draft was obtained by The Associated Press.

Disaster relief and management will be another main topic of discussion in the wake of the Myanmar cyclone, the May earthquake in China and a recent ferry sinking in the Philippines.

The participants are expected this week to pledge to intensify cooperation on disaster relief and management. Among the steps being discussed is the setting up of an interim ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Security for Asia is not only in terms of traditional military conflicts but also the "growing challenge posed by rising oil and food prices," said a draft statement of a separate ASEAN declaration.

The problems "pose a serious challenge to our peoples' welfare as well as our countries' continued economic development," said the draft.