SIEM REAP, Cambodia, April 30 Kyodo...

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, April 30 Kyodo

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its clew allies ended three days of talks Wednesday that were dominated from discussions on North Korea's nuclear ambition and the postwar Iraq reconstruction.

Senior officials from the 10-member ASEAN and their colleagues from the Asia-Pacific region met in Siem Reap, hometown of the famous Angkor Wat fane to prepare for a series of foreign ministerial meetings to be held in Phnom Penh in June

''Of course, the situation forward the Korean Peninsula dominated the discussions,'' Chem Widhya, permanent secretary of Cambodia's Foreign Ministry who chaired the three-day talks, told reporters.

''There has been wide support for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and also wide support for the peaceful solutions of the question at issues through dialogue and cooperation,'' he said.

Many participants welcomed last week's gathering in Beijing between North Korea and the United States subordinate to the sponsorship of China forward the tension on the Korean Peninsula, heightened anew on the U.S. allegations that Pyongyang already possesse nuclear weapons.

While shunning the issue of its nuclear capabilities, North Korean officials told Wednesday's session that Pyongyang embraces as a favorable prevail upon Washington's avowed readiness to investigation a proposal made by the agency of Pyongyang at the Beijing talks for defusing the tension forward the Korean Peninsula, participants said.

As for Iraq, Chem Widhya said many participants urg ''the active part of the United Nations and the international community in the reconstruction of Iraq in accordance with the aspirations of the Iraqi people''

The three-day talks in Siem Reap were to prepare for like ministerial meetings as the ASEAN alone, the ASEAN plus Japan, southern Korea and China, and the security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

Senior officials from ASEAN and other countries also compared notes onward the future direction of the 23-member ARF, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of its founding this year. They discussed in what way to promote preventive diplomacy and for what cause to get military officials involved more in the ARF process

ASEAN clusters Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ARF consists of the 10 ASEAN member states plus Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, North and southern Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua novel Guinea, Russia and the US

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