SE Asia urges N Korea to return to nuclear talks

KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 (Reuters) Southeast Asian nations today urged North Korea to rejoin six-party talks this week to resolve fears over its nuclear ambitions, offering to play host.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) wants the six parties - the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia - to renew stalled talks on the fringe of an ASEAN-sponsored global security forum in Malaysia on Friday.

''We urge them to get together,'' Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said after chairing an annual meeting of his counterparts from the 10-member ASEAN grouping.

The six-party talks stalled last November with North Korea objecting to a U S crackdown on firms it suspects of aiding Pyongyang in counterfeiting and drug-running.

But all six parties, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun, are due anyway to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum, where ASEAN and world powers discuss regional security issues every year.

''We believe that the diplomatic channel should continue to be utilised,'' Syed Hamid told a news conference, adding that ASEAN wanted a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

Rice is reported to be willing to meet North Korea's Paek as part of a six-party discussion. The five other parties all want the North to give up its ambition to develop nuclear weapons.

ASEAN ministers stopped short on Tuesday of condemning North Korea's July 5 missile tests, giving themselves room to offer the North a neutral venue. The tests brought world condemnation down on the reclusive communist regime.

''We expressed our concern over the latest developments in the Korean pensinsula...,'' the ministers said in a joint communique.

EAST ASIAN DIPLOMACY South Korea today sought separate, bilateral talks with North Korea on the sidelines of the ASEAN-sponsored meetings and also urged the North to resume six-party talks here.

''I have not received any firm confirmation from the North Korean foreign minister,'' Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said.

His North Korean counterpart, Paek Nam-sun, along with Rice are due to arrive on Thursday, on the eve of the regional forum.

MORE REUTERS PKS KP1913