Asian ministers meeting in the Malaysian capital this week have clamoured for a ceasefire in Lebanon and expressed frustration over the US refusal to push Israel to immediately halt its military action.

"I recognise the tremendous concern that the Malaysian government and other governments here have about the unfolding situation in the Middle East. I want you to know that we have of course heard precisely your concerns," Rice said.

Rice said she was assessing whether it was yet the right time to return to the Middle East, but reiterated that a ceasefire would be senseless without the conditions being in place for it to be sustainable.

"Let me be very clear, I am going to return to the Middle East. The question is when," she told a press conference after the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Earlier this week regional ministers expressed their deep concern over Israel's "apparently deliberate targeting" of a UN post in Lebanon which killed four UN observers including a Chinese national.

In a sign of the anger in Muslim-majority Malaysia, hundreds of demonstrators and political activists tried to storm the venue of the talks and demanded to speak with Rice over Israel's actions in Lebanon.

The protesters, led by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, broke through barricades, forcing riot officers and mounted police to form a human cordon to keep them out.

The other major item on a packed agenda Friday was 10-nation talks between the United States and Asian powers that focussed on the North Korean missile crisis.

They were hastily organised after the North shunned diplomatic efforts led by China and South Korea for it to attend a session here of six-nation talks on its nuclear programme which it has boycotted since November.

"We do need to deal with the security problems that are currently bedeviling the region, especially concerns about the nuclear program of the DPRK," Rice said, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"The launching of seven ballistic missiles on July 4-5 here in Asia that violated the self-imposed nuclear moratorium was indeed a dangerous action," she said.

After weathering another round of criticism, North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun warned his country may consider withdrawing from the ARF -- one of the few it attends -- Japanese officials said.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar expressed optimism the reclusive state would not quit, but acknowledged that the discussions with North Korea had not been successful.

"No, we wanted to have the six-party talks but we were not able to have the six-party talks. I think still if we want to find a solution you need to resume the six-party talks," he said.

The region's other black sheep, Myanmar, is usually subject to intense criticism at the ARF, but with so many pressing global issues has escaped relatively unscathed.

Rice said the United States was seeking a UN Security Council resolution to condemn Myanmar's failure to introduce democratic reforms or release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is being held under house arrest.

The top US envoy on Asia, Christopher Hill, said the pariah state, formerly known as Burma, was discovering there was an emerging consensus that it was "way out of line."

"Burma is a problem for the entire region. Burma used to be a major exporter of various tropical products and now it is an exporter of disease and refugees. I think there is a great deal of concern about Burma's behavior," he said.

In addition to ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the ARF groups Australia, Bangaladesh, Canada, China, East Timor, the European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.

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