Eight nations to hold talks without North Korea

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27: The United States will bring together eight nations to discuss North Asia security after North Korea rejected an invitation to talk about its nuclear and missile programmes, a senior US official said today.

The United States had asked North Korea via its diplomatic channel in New York to attend an informal session of six-party talks at the same time as the ASEAN meetings in Malaysia.

North Korea had an answer ready when its delegation arrived for the annual meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations.

''There will be no six-party meeting,'' said Jong Song-il, a foreign ministry spokesman.

The talks involving North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia have been stalled since November after North Korea objected to US sanctions on firms it suspects of aiding Pyongyang in counterfeiting and drug-running.

''If the Americans want to see the six-party talks quickly, then go tell them quickly to remove the financial sanctions,'' Jong, who was travelling with North Korea's Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun told reporters waiting at the airport.

Senior State Department official Chris Hill said that after that refusal, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided to have a broader meeting on Friday on the issue, bringing together the five main parties dealing with North Korea as well as Canada, Australia and ASEAN host Malaysia.

Hill said the meeting of the eight nations was not intended to replace the six-party mechanism but rather to look at security issues in northeast Asia.

The 10-member ASEAN had been keen to play host to renewed talks over North Korea, especially as all six nations involved in the issue are in Kuala Lumpur for talks. China said it had not given up on efforts to get North Korea engaged in talks. ''Of course we hope that North Korea can sit down with the other relevant sides and especially that the six-party talks can be resumed as early as possible,'' a Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu told reporters.

''As of now there is no such arrangement'' to meet the North Koreans, she said, but ''no matter how big the difficulties we will not give up our efforts,'' she added.

State-owned Bank of China has frozen North Korea-related assets in its Macau branch, a punitive measure Hill said was not in retaliation for the firing of the missiles.

''It demonstrates that this financial issue is not just one with the US,'' he said, adding that China took these steps several months ago in a bid to protect its financial sector.

North Korea launched at least six long-range missiles on July 5 and a seventh one 12 hours later. Experts say it has enough nuclear material to make a half-dozen or more atomic bombs.

The UN Security Council imposed weapons-related sanctions on Pyongyang after the missile launches and Rice told reporters travelling with her she planned to discuss the implementation of these measures during her discussions tomorrow.

The Security Council resolution requires UN members to stop imports from or exports to North Korea of missiles and missile-related items as well as materials that could be used in weapons of mass destruction. North Korea rejected the resolution.

REUTERS