Then came parleys with the grouping's dialogue partners as well as the security-oriented ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

CNN: HEN THE FOREIGN MINISTERS

The July missile tests were scarcely mentioned during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei earlier this month.

CNN: T WAS SUPPOSED TO

And ministers meet at the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Shangri-La dialogue.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

China also faced an unsettling experience in July, at the annual ASEAN Regional Forum organised by the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

ECONOMIST: Banyan

At the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on security in Bangkok, the North's first appearance elicited audible sighs of relief and largely unrestrained chumminess.

CNN: Star Treatment

And on July 23, he will join the 21-member ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on security, which includes the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and the European Union.

CNN: TEST OF WILLS

The United States appointed a special envoy to ASEAN, based in Jakarta, signed the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, and has taken part in the ASEAN Regional Forum, a security talking-shop.

ECONOMIST: South-East Asian summitry

We appreciated the substantial increase in high-level U.S. engagement in ASEAN-led political-security fora, including the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus), the EAS, and the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum.

WHITEHOUSE: Joint Statement of the 4th ASEAN-U.S. Leaders' Meeting

That's what happened when Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun flew in to attend a July 27 meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the seven-year-old security panel in which Pyongyang would participate for the first time.

CNN: Relegated to the Sidelines?

Since its founding, ASEAN has grown from a modest forum for regional cooperation to an institutionalized organization responsible for a broad range of practical cooperation, and the driver for broader regional economic, political, and security integration.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

General Surayud Chulanont, the prime minister in Thailand's military-backed government, suggested the creation of a regional forum to solve Myanmar's crisis, comprising ASEAN, India, China and the UN, modelled on the six-party talks on North Korea.

ECONOMIST: Why ASEAN should be worried about Myanmar

They are meeting on the sidelines of the Asean forum in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, amid regional tension.

BBC: Asean talks: US and China pledge to co-operate on Asia