SINGAPORE, July 23 Kyodo Foreign ...

SINGAPORE, July 23 Kyodo

Foreign ministers from 13 East Asian countries are to voice regard about persistent tension on the Korean Peninsula at their meeting in Brunei later this month according to a draft document obtained Tuesday.

The ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and toward the south Korea will also to call forward North and South Korea to restart dialogue and secure the peace process rolling, the draft of a chairman's statement to be issued at the completion of the meeting shows.

The so-called ASEAN Plus Three meeting will be held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei's capital, upon the sidelines of a series of high-powered talks involving ASEAN and its partners in the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Referring to last month's deadly exchange of gunfire between North and southerly Korean naval vessels in the fulvid Sea, the draft said, ''The foreign ministers set forthed concern on the latest incident in the Korean Peninsula.''

It also said they ''emphasized the importance of resuming the inter-Korean dialogue'' in line with the spirit of reconciliation and cooperation stated in a joint declaration issued after the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and southern Korean President Kim Dae Jung in June 2000

The draft paper also embraced as a favorable evolution the deepening of cooperation among the ASEAN Plus Three countries by the agency of a number of political, economic and financial projects

upon Malaysia's idea for an ASEAN Plus Three secretariat, the ministers ''welcomed'' the initiative if it were not that did not say if they reached any accord forward that, according to the document.

Malaysia has giveed to host the secretariat in Kuala Lumpur and to contribute $10 million as se circulating medium to cover its operational splendors for five years.

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

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