Despite N. Korean missiles Bush wins at APEC

Shrugging off missile testing by North Korea, Asia-Pacific leaders endorsed US President George W. Bush's plans to counter terror and his new initiative to resolve the Korean nuclear crisis yesterday.

Closing a summit in Bangkok, the other 20 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum fully backed the US stand of providing some security guarantees for North Korea in exchange for it abandoning its nuclear ambitions.

They called for the revival of world trade talks and agreed on more ways to increase global security - specifically by controlling trade in shoulder-fired missiles, tightening port safety, choking terrorist finance and increasing cooperation.

Away from the vexed issues of trade, nuclear proliferation and terrorism, Malaysia's irrepressible Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad ended his last international summit with a repeat of controversial remarks that "arrogant" Jews ruled the world.

And China's Hu Jintao fielded questions at his first major news conference with verve and confidence, repeating that China would move at its own pace on revaluing its yuan currency, a bugbear for Washington.

As the leaders posed in Thai silk finery for the ritual group photograph on the final day of the summit, Japan said North Korea may have launched a surface-to-ship missile for the second consecutive day.

"We do not take this as a positive attitude on the part of North Korea," said a Japanese spokesman in Bangkok.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin said the testing was not an issue. "Those misslies launched are not directly linked to the nuclear programme," he told reporters. "The main goal for us is to avoid Korea becoming a nuclear state." (Reuters)