10-way talks on N. Korean issue kick off

South Korea and the United States opened a group meeting here Friday with eight of their shared allies to discuss a broad range of Northeast Asian security issues.

The informal gathering, chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, brought together top officials also from China, Russia, Japan, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Zealand.

North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun did not show up at the largely symbolic meeting despite intensive efforts to avert its boycott of any multilateral talks on its missile and nuclear program on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) under way in Kuala Lumpur.

Paek said earlier that his country can't rejoin the six-way talks on its nuclear program amid the U.S. sanctions against the communist state, according to South Korean delegates at an Asian security meeting.

The minister even threatened to quit the ARF if it adopts a joint statement denouncing the missile tests when it ends later in the day.

The participating nations in the 10-way meeting stressed that it was not aimed at further isolating North Korea.

"It's going to be a general discussion on (security) issues in Northeast Asia," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters. "It's not a new grouping, just a discussion."

During the 10-way meeting, meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon called for the international community to show both firmness and flexibility in dealing with the North which faces further sanctions in line with the latest U.N. resolution rebuking its recent missile launches.

"In implementing the resolution, the Republic of Korea believes that the international community should pursue a two-pronged approach at the particular juncture," Ban said.

"One is to send a clear and united message to North Korea, in order to prevent North Korea from taking any further provocative action," he added. "The other is to make diplomatic efforts to reconvene the six-party talks, which has not been held for the late eight months."

As the security conference is almost certain to end with no major breakthrough on the North Korean issue, the U.S. will likely ratchet up economic pressure on the impoverished nation, observers said.

That is why South Korean officials say the ARF could be the last chance for the North to avoid additional sanctions endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, they added.

Earlier Friday, North Korea said it does not care about the United States' move to impose additional sanctions against Pyongyang.

Undersecretary of the Treasury Stuart Levey said in a telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency on Thursday that the U.N. member states should freeze the assets of 11 North Korean entities that Washington designated last year as proliferators of missiles and weapons of mass destruction, as the first step in implementing the recent U.N. resolution against Pyongyang for its missile tests.

"It shows Washington's intention of putting more pressure on us.

We do not care about it," Jung Sung-il, spokesman of the North Korean delegation, said.

Kuala Lumpur, July 28 (Yonhap News)