Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) yesterday expressed their welcome to the resumption of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue in Beijing. 

In a final joint communiqué issued Tuesday at the end of the 38th ASEAN ministerial meeting in Vientiane, the foreign ministers hoped that concerned parties could find solutions acceptable to all sides, toward a nuclear-weapons-free Korean Peninsula, on the basis of the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and equality that will contribute to the maintenance of peace, security and stability in the wider Asia-Pacific region.

"ASEAN reaffirmed its support to the process and reiterated the potential role of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), as the primary forum for dialogue on peace and security issues in the region, in contributing to the momentum of finding a solution to the Korean Peninsula (nuclear) issue," the ministers said.

They also welcomed the recent resumption of the inter-Korean dialogue. "In this regard, we expressed the hope that the dialogue will continue in accordance with the spirit and letter of the June 15 North-South Declaration," they said.

The one-day annual ASEAN ministerial meeting was attended by foreign ministers from 10-member bloc that groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2005)