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US S ecretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to Malaysia today where she may meet North Korea's foreign minister in the first high-level contact since the North Koreans tested missiles in defiance of international appeals.

Rice and Paek Nam Sun are taking part in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week. Asean wants North Korea to use the forum in the Malaysian capital for multilateral talks on its nuclear weapons program.

“We want to discuss security issues on Northeast Asia,'' Christopher Hill, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said yesterday in Kuala Lumpur. “We want to discuss the future shape of Northeast Asia so we think we need to have a discussion about that here in Kuala Lumpur.” Rice is seeking to boost cooperation with Southeast Asian countries on security issues and win support on the US response to the Middle East conflict and North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions. North Korea fired seven missiles that landed in the Sea of Japan on July 5, including a long-range Taepodong-2 that US military officials said may be capable of reaching Alaska.

Foreign ministers of the 10-member Asean are meeting today and tomorrow with their counterparts from countries such as China, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, the US, the EU, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Rice will hold a media briefing tomorrow at 5:05 pm with Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

The last round of six-nation talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program ended in November without agreement after the parties signed a September 2005 declaration calling for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. The forum involves the US, North Korea, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

“I have conveyed the Asean decision to South Korea and China for all the members of six parties to get together since they're all here,” Syed Hamid said yesterday. “None of them seemed to have objected to that. So, if there is a willingness on the part of six-party members to get together, then we just provide them the facility.” Ministers will hold one-on-one talks in the event there is no formal meeting of the six nations, Syed Hamid said. “The South Koreans said they would like to have a bilateral with the North Koreans.'' The United Nations Security Council on July 15 adopted a resolution demanding North Korea suspend its missile program and barring the nation from acquiring or selling missile technology.

North Korea is refusing to return to the six-nation talks until the US removes sanctions it imposed because of alleged money laundering and counterfeiting by North Korean companies.

North Korea's Ambassador to the UN, Pak Gil Yon, told the Security Council his government rejected the resolution and would continue with missile launches as a deterrent to US and Japanese aggression and to maintain a balance of power on the Korean peninsula.

China has rejected any talks at the Asean forum unless North Korea is involved. “China is very interested in maintaining a momentum of the six-party process,” Hill said. “But like us, too, they understand that we can't have a situation where North Korea boycotting the six-party process means that the rest of us cannot talk.'' Multilateral talks are important and ministers here need to be “flexible,” Hill said. “To see North East Asia, which is so economically dynamic, and to see the problems created by North Korea that prevent any kind of political or security processes from being developed, is frankly something that we all ought to try to address.” Rice's visit to Malaysia comes after her trips to Lebanon, Israel and Rome where she sought to win acceptance of an international force for southern Lebanon that could help end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The conflict, now in its third week, has resulted in the deaths of 392 Lebanese and 41 Israelis.

Hezbollah, formed in 1982, has claimed credit or been linked to scores of attacks on Israelis and Americans, including rocket attacks on Israeli towns, the 1983 bombing that killed 241 US soldiers in Beirut, and the 1994 attack that killed 95 at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The US and Israel have designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi earlier this week criticized Israel for using military force against Lebanon and the Palestinians. Asean foreign ministers called for an immediate cease-fire.

“In both situations, it is aggravating and threatening peace and security overall,” Malaysia's Syed Hamid said yesterday in Kuala Lumpur. “We are very shocked that nothing can be done. The US can take some measures in order to deal with the present crisis.”

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