Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi urged in Phuket on Wednesday that concerned parties exercise restraints on the situation of Northeast Asia and not to take actions that destabilized regional peace.

With increasing uncertainties, the situations of the Korea Peninsula and Northeast Asia are complicated and sensitive, said Yang in his meeting with foreign ministers of East Asia Summit. He added that to break the stalemate and to stabilize regional situation are common hopes of relevant parties.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted a nuclear test in May and later fired several ballistic missiles on June 4, raising international concerns over regional security.

The UN Security Council adopted on June 12 Resolution 1874 that allowed wider sanctions against the DPRK on the issue of its nuclear test. The DPRK has rejected the resolution and announced it has quit the cease-fire agreement of the Korean War and the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

Yang also called on concerned parties to make concerted efforts in re-launching the six-party talks and pushing the resolving of the DPRK issue back to means of dialogue.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday urged the DPRK to fully comply with its obligations and relevant UNSC resolutions.

"We also urged all concerned parties to return to the Six-Party Talks process as soon as possible and fully implement their commitments made in previous rounds of the six-party talks, which remains the main mechanism for achieving peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula," said a joint communique of the 42nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting.

"We believed that the ASEAN Regional Forum, which includes the ASEAN and all participants of the six-party talks, can play a positive and proactive role in promoting peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula. We encouraged all concerned parties to actively pursue this objective," added the joint communique.

The ASEAN Regional Forum will be held on Thursday with the participation of a DPRK official.

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2009)