NORTH KOREA: North Korea spurned calls to return to nuclear talks at an Asia security forum yesterday. US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice had been attending the ASEAN Regional Forum, hosted annually by the Association of South East Asian Nations, where members of the six-party talks had tried to get Pyongyang to join multilateral discussions about North Korea's nuclear programmes.
North Korea made clear from the outset it was not interested and in the closed-door session yesterday threatened to quit the forum altogether, apparently angry about criticism of its recent missile tests in the chairman's statement.
North Korea test-fired seven missiles on July 5th, defying warnings to desist. Dr Rice called the missile firings a "dangerous act" but the North Koreans said it was part of their regular military exercises.
A Japanese official told reporters that North Korea's foreign minister Paek Nam-sun told the forum the criticisms ran counter to the members' tradition of seeking consensus.
Outside the convention centre, thousands of demonstrators led by the son-in-law of host Malaysia's prime minister protested against Israel, burning an American flag and Dr Rice in effigy. "Rice get out!" the protesters chanted.
The Middle East crisis had seemed set to dominate the forum, Asia's main security meeting of 24 nations plus the European Union and new member Bangladesh.
All the bags were packed and ready to go when the State Department announced that Dr Rice would delay her departure from Kuala Lumpur. A State Department official said it was likely that she would leave today. "Things will become clearer in due course," a State Department spokesman said.
Dr Rice came here from a round of meetings in the Middle East via a one-day conference in Rome that called for an urgent but not immediate ceasefire to hostilities in southern Lebanon.
She said she was willing to return to the Middle East at any time, but added it only made sense if she could help bring about a lasting peace, underlining the US's reluctance to rein in Israel while it is fighting Hizbullah. - (Reuters)