BRISBANE, July 10: A US-led group of 11 nations agreed Thursday to begin military training for a worldwide campaign to intercept land, sea and air shipments of banned weapons by rogue states.

But the meeting stopped short of setting a timetable for interdiction operations, notably against North Korea, amid concerns such a move could provoke a violent response from the volatile regime.

A statement issued at the end of a two-day meeting here of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) said the participants agreed to “move quickly on direct, practical measures to impede the trafficking in weapons of mass destruction (WMD), missiles and related items.”

They called for action to “further develop and enhance the capabilities of PSI nations to conduct actual air, ground and maritime interdiction operations in partnership against WMD and delivery systems.”

As first steps, the countries pledged to share intelligence on arms trafficking and “agreed in principle to the concept of a series of interdiction training exercises, utilising both military and civilian assets.”

The training will begin “as soon as practicable,” said the US-led group that also included Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

Officials said later that exercises could begin after a PSI meeting set for sometime in early September.

The head of the US delegation, Under-Secretary of State John Bolton, expressed satisfaction with the Brisbane meeting although earlier in the week he had indicated Washington wanted a quick start to interceptions of suspect North Korean ships and aircraft.

“In diplomatic terms we are moving at light speed,” Bolton said.

He said he was confident any action taken would have “ample international authority,” but did not rule out seeking a United Nations resolution in the future.

While the stated purpose of the PSI is to counter all trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, delegates in Brisbane focussed primarily on North Korea, which is believed to earn about a billion dollars a year in arms trading to prop up its collapsed economy.

“The shared position of the governments is that North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions completely, verifiably and irreversibly,” said meeting chairman, Australian diplomat Paul O’Sullivan.

South Korea and Japan have expressed concern that overly aggressive action against North Korea could spook the Stalinist regime, and Australian leaders stressed Thursday that joint PSI interdiction efforts were not yet on the agenda.

“At this stage we haven’t made any commitment of military assets and it’s too early to be talking about that,” said Prime Minister John Howard who plans to discuss the issue during visits next week to South Korea and Japan.

Washington’s aggressive PSI initiative is running parallel to efforts to draw North Korea into multilateral talks including the United States, China and South Korea.

As part of the process, officials from South and North Korea met Thursday in Seoul and South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun wrapped up a four-day trip to China largely focussed on the issue.

Pyongyang has pressed instead for bilateral talks with Washington and recently warned it would consider any actions against its ships or plans as acts of war.

The Brisbane meeting was a follow-up to talks last month in Madrid and sparked criticism that the United States and its allies were again skirting the United Nations as they did in launching the war on Iraq.

In addressing the delegates here Wednesday night, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer referred to the “patchy” UN effort to force Iraq to give up its illegal weapons as one of the justifications for the PSI.—AFP