Seoul to Host Security Talks

South Korea will host a sub-panel meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum on security matters, a Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry official said Friday.

The three-day conference of the Intersessional Support Group on Confidence Building Measures will open in Seoul Nov. 1.

Prior to the conference, the forum member countries are also set to hold a meeting of experts on transnational crime to discuss issues such as illegal immigration and arms trading.

The talks are to be held at Seoul's Swiss Grand Hotel.

Some 120 officials from 23 Asia Regional Forum member countries are expected to attend the sessions, but North Korea will not take part.

A foreign ministry official said the North recently notified the South that it will not attend the meeting, citing "internal problems."

North Korea joined the forum in July during a conference in Bangkok. It was the first time that the Communist state joined an organization dealing with regional security issues.