SANTIAGO (AFP) - US President George W. Bush vowed to unite the Asia-Pacific axis in dragging North Korea back to the negotiating table to scrap its nuclear weapons program.
"The leader of North Korea will hear a common voice," Bush promised as he met with key Asian allies over the crisis ahead of the formal start of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit in Santiago.
Nuclear proliferation concerns -- fueled by fears that Iran, too, is building a nuclear bomb -- and the US-led "war on terror" overwhelmed the usually dry discussions of trade and the economy at the 21-member APEC talks.
APEC leaders formally convene at a conference center by the foothills of the Andes later in the day.
The summit concludes Sunday with informal discussions in a "retreat" at Santiago's neoclassical La Moneda palace.
Mayhem in the streets, however, provided a violent backdrop for the meeting.
Rock-throwing anti-Bush and anti-APEC protesters clashed with anti-riot police in Santiago on the eve of the summit. Two people, a shop worker and a police captain, were injured by gunfire. At least 250 demonstrators were arrested in Santiago and nearby Valparaiso.
More protests were expected in the evening Saturday.
On his North Korea campaign, Bush met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun. He was also to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
All are US partners in six-party talks with Pyongyang.
"What's very important is for the leader of North Korea to understand that the six-party talks will be the framework in which we continue to discuss the mutual goal we all have, which is to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons," said Bush.
The president said the purpose of the meetings was "making sure that our intention remains the same, that we work together to achieve the goal."
Washington hopes to pull Pyongyang back to the negotiations as early as possible -- perhaps as early as this year, but more likely in early 2005, according to a senior administration official.
North Korea, which revealed it had a nuclear weapons program two years ago, boycotted the latest round of talks in September.
Anti-terrorism measures are also bound to be central at the summit talks.
APEC foreign ministers, including outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell, set the tone for the leaders, agreeing to keep closer tabs on shoulder-mounted missile launchers, which could give a terrorist the capacity to down a plane.
Leaders are also expected to discuss a business leaders' proposal for the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, or FTAAP, embracing the giant trading groups of the Americas and East Asia.
APEC appeared split over the free trade plan.
Australia, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States backed it, while others, such as China, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia, were cautious or opposed it, APEC sources said.
Hernan Somerville, chairman of the APEC Business Advisory Council, said the leaders should consider the council's request for a study on the prospect of such a free trade area, which could control nearly half the world's trade.
"We have not asked the leaders to launch a negotiation on the Asia-Pacific free trade agreement. What we have basically asked in three letters to the leaders is just a feasibility study be conducted," he said.
11/20/2004 - 15:48 GMT - AFP