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ARF's plea to N. Korea

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: The ASEAN's Regional Forum (ARF), which held its annual ministerial session in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, failed to reach a consensus on the North Korean missile issue. Malaysian Foreign Minister and the ARF session chairman Hamid Albar said in a statement, after the deliberations, that "most Ministers expressed concern over the test-firing of missiles by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)" on July 5. The North Korean delegate resisted attempts by some participants to condemn the tests The participants failed to bring together U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the DPRK delegate within the framework of an "informal" meeting of the six parties that were already seized of the issue . The move failed as the U.S. refused to lift its financial sanctions on the DRPK.

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