North Korea spurns talks, Rice delays departure

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28: North Korea today spurned calls for a return to talks at a security forum and the U S Secretary of State dashed hopes she would immediately return to the west Asia by delaying her departure from Malaysia.

U S Secretary Condoleezza Rice made clear at a news conference she intended to return to the region but she did not give a timetable.

''I am going to return to the West Asia. The question is when is it right for me to return to the Middle East,'' she said.

Members of the so-called six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes had been trying to get Pyongyang to participate in multilateral discussions on the fringes of the ASEAN Regional Forum, but North Korea made clear from the outset it was not interested in taking part.

Instead today it threatened to quit the ASEAN Regional Forum altogether. Afterwards Rice was compelled to convene a 10-member meeting on northeast Asian security without Pyongyang.

While talks proceeded inside the convention centre, outside thousands of demonstrators led by the son-in-law of host Malaysia's Prime Minister protested against Israel at the doors, burning an American flag and Rice in effigy.

The West Asia crisis had seemed set to dominate the forum, Asia's main security meeting grouping of 24 countries plus the European Union.

At least 445 people, mostly civilians, have been confirmed killed in Lebanon, as well as 51 Israelis in the 17-day-old conflict.

All the bags were packed and ready to go when the State Department announced Rice would delay her departure from Malaysia, dashing hopes that she might be able to advance the peace process in the Middle East by returning today. A State Department official said she would likely leave tomorrow.

No reason was given for the change in schedule, but it suggested that negotiations on ending the fighting in Lebanon had not reached a point where her presence could push the warring sides in the conflict to a deal.

''Diplomacy is an evolving situation. It is not something that is set in stone at the beginning or that follows a prepared script,'' State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

''Things will become clearer in due course,'' he said.

Rice came here from a packed round of meetings in the West Asia via a one-day conference in Rome that called for an urgent but not immediate ceasefire to hostilities in southern Lebanon.

She said on arrival she was willing to return to the West Asia at any time, but added that only made sense if she could help bring about a lasting peace, underlining Washington's reluctance to rein in Israel while it is fighting Hizbollah.

A Japanese official told reporters North Korea's foreign minister Paek Nam-sun had threatened to leave the ASEAN forum in a one-day closed-door session. ''We may reconsider whether to stay in the ARF,'' Paek said in what observers called an emotional rant at the meeting.

Later in the day Rice opened talks on northeast Asia hastily arranged yesterday but had to start without China, which was reportedly delayed by a meeting with North Korea.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso told reporters that Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing had told the meeting he was delayed because he was trying until the very end to persuade Paek to come.

''In order to make further progess we need to deal with the security problems bedevilling the region,'' Rice said in an opening statement, referring particularly to the North Korean threat.

The international community was outraged by North Korea's decision to test-launch seven missiles on July 5 despite warnings to desist. Rice called the missile firings a ''dangerous act''.

IRAN PRESENCE The unexpected arrival of Iran's Foreign Minister in Malaysia focused attention on the Middle East conflict but also prompted speculation Iran was ready for talks on its own nuclear plans.

However European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who is Europe's chief negotiator in the nuclear talks with Iran, was not due to meet Iran's Manouchehr Mottaki in Kuala Lumpur, an EU official said.

U N Security Council members agreed informally in New York yesterday on a resolution demanding Iran suspend nuclear enrichment and reprocessing work and threatening to consider sanctions if it refuses, diplomats said.

Malaysia, which also chairs the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), with 57 nations the main grouping of Islamic countries, is trying to arrange a summit of the group next week to discuss the Lebanon war.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met his counterparts from Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh on Friday to discuss the West Asia situation, an Asian diplomat said. A member of his delegation told Reuters no meetings with Rice were planned.

REUTERS