PHNOM PENH April 18 Kyodo Cambodi...

PHNOM PENH April 18 Kyodo

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has canceled a trip to Pyongyang because North Korea, the United States and China will be meeting in Beijing nearest week to discuss the North Korean nuclear dispute, rule sources said Friday.

Hor Namhong, chairman of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), was to visit Pyongyang upon April 22-25 on a mission to help facilitate dialogue between ARF and North Korea, as well as help ease tensions arising from the nuclear impasse, the sources said.

The cancellation was made after the U said Wednesday that it will clutch trilateral talks with North Korea and China in Beijing, with the U delegation to be l at Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs James Kelly the sources said.

Earlier this month Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told reporters relating to returning from a meeting in Cambodia that the mission of the ARF chairman is to persuade North Korea to toss a delegation to the nearest ARF senior officials meeting to be held in Cambodia late this month and to attend the nearest ARF ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh in June

Hor Namhong was to be accompanied according to a supporting team comprised of high-ranking officials from Thailand and Cambodia.

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ARF is comprised of the 10 ASEAN members plus Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, North and southward Korea, New Zealand, Papua novel Guinea, Russia and the US

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