The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday welcomed the Chairman's Statement of the ASEAN Regional Forum on the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the majority of the meeting participants asserted a negotiated peaceful solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, and the chairman's statement also underlined the importance of settling the nuclear issue on the principle of "words for words" and "action for action" proposed by the DPRK.

"It is necessary for the ASEAN Regional Forum to invariably maintain impartiality if it is to substantially contribute to the settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula," he said.

The spokesman also added that the forum considered it essential to wipe out the bilateral distrust between the DPRK and the United States if they want to seek a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue.

He said the meeting expressed support for the DPRK's stand that"reward for freeze," the first-phase action for a package solution based on the principle of simultaneous actions, was the only way to seek a step-by-step solution to the nuclear issue.

The one-day forum meeting closed in Jakarta on July 2 after issuing the chairman's statement, which focuses on the security issues and the future development direction of the forum. Enditem