Nationals vs Lebanon

MANILA (AP) - Secretive North Korea has submitted a paper on its defense security outlook to Southeast Asia's only security forum for the first time, a move hailed as a welcome sign of cooperation.

"They gave us their defense white paper for the first time," Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio said. "It's an act of good faith and willingness to cooperate."

The defense paper, submitted yearly on a voluntary basis by members of the 27-member ASEAN Regional Forum, contains the security outlook, including perceived threats, of each country.

North Korea has been an ARF member since 2000, but had not shared such documents with the forum.

Another official who has read the paper said there were no surprises and the document hewed closely to North Korea's official line and previous statements to the media.

The Philippines, the chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year, hosts an ARF senior officials meeting next week _ Christopher Hill, senior U.S. negotiator for North Korean disarmament, and a senior North Korean official are expected to attend _ in preparation for a ministerial-level meeting in August.

North Korea, indicating that it values ARF as a forum to promote multilateral security and peace in the region, reiterated that it favors disarmament and discussed progress in six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions.

Hill said Tuesday the financial dispute over Pyongyang's US$25 million in a Macau bank will be resolved, adding that the dispute will not be allowed to get in the way of a deal to finally do something about nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea has refused to start implementing a February agreement to shut down its nuclear reactor _ missing a deadline a month ago _ until it gets US$25 million in funds from a bank in China's territory of Macau, that had been frozen after the U.S. blacklisted the bank in 2005.

The U.S. said the funds were tied to alleged money laundering and counterfeiting by North Korea. It released the funds, but the transfer has been held up because other banks have been reluctant to touch the US$25 million (?18.4 million) in accounts that were freed.