The ASEAN Regional Forum(ARF) on Wednesday adopted a chairman's statement, expressing concerns over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.

The ARF is the only multilateral security dialogue platform in the region held in North Korea’s attendance. Seoul officials assess that telling North Korean officials in person that their country should refrain from provocations is a meaningful diplomatic achievement.

After only a day of deliberation following the Tuesday forum, the ARF chair state of Laos released the concluding document of the talks among the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) and its dialogue partners.

After a diplomatic tug of war over the wordings of the final document, the foreign ministerial forum specified concerns over North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January as well as its rocket and ballistic missile launches that followed.

ASEAN member states also expressed their support for the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The ARF statement called for respecting UN Security Council Resolution 2270 and creating a conducive environment to resume the stalled six-party talks, noting that most of the participating top diplomats in the meeting shared the aim.

North Korea also sent its foreign minister to the largest regional security gathering of 27 countries, along with all other members to the stalled six-party denuclearization talks, but it failed to have its voices heard at the event.

A senior Seoul official hoped that the statement would send a grave warning to the North, noting that almost all of Seoul’s demands were properly reflected in its wording.

The official said last year’s ARF chairman’s statement was ambiguous, only calling on the concerned parties to refrain from actions that could escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula without specifying the North.

On the other hand, the official said that this year’s statement spelled out the North’s provocations, the detailed dates it conducted missile or nuclear tests, as well as the fact those behaviors are a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

Meanwhile, the ARF ministers and representatives decided not to include in the statement any discussions about the South Korea-U.S. alliance’s decision to deploy an American missile defense battery in South Korea, while underlining the need for mutual trust and self-restraint over the South China Sea territorial issue.