The less weighty oral statement was seen as an effort not to provoke the Stalinist state, which test-fired a short-range missile off its east coast on Monday, heightening the urgency of resolving the nuclear crisis.

"We seek a peaceful resolution through dialogue while addressing all the concerns of the parties including the security concerns raised by the DPRK (North Korea)," said APEC host Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"We welcome efforts to address these security concerns," he said at the conclusion of the two-day Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum as the group's 20 other leaders stood beside him.

"We are committed to the maintenance of peace and stability on the peninsula and support continuation of the six-party talks, and look forward to concrete and verifiable progress toward a complete and permanent nuclear weapons-free Korean peninsula."

However, there was no mention of North Korea in the official leaders' declaration as hoped for by Bush, who departed for Singapore after the summit to continue his six-nation tour of Asia.

Nor was there a separate leaders' statement urging Pyongyang to disarm, despite strong pressure from Japan on its partners in the six-party talks -- the United States, South Korea, Russia and China.

"We are at a very sensitive time with regard to the six-nation talks and there were several countries who felt it would be better not to issue a statement," said a Japanese official.

Japan was also keen for support on including the issue of Japanese kidnapped by North Korea in tandem with the nuclear crisis.

Japan's concerns about the abduction of its citizens by Pyongyang spies was addressed by Thaksin's speech, the official said.

Hajime Izumi, a professor of international relations and Korean studies at Japan's University of Shizuoka, said most countries participating in the six-way talks opted not to provoke the North and instead took a "wait-and-see" stance.

"They don't know how North Korea will handle the next six-way talks, including whether the North will give in its nuclear weapons program," Izumi said.

A Bush aide downplayed the absence of an explicit rebuke of Pyongyang by APEC leaders, saying the US-endorsed six-nation talks were making progress towards a nuclear-weapons free peninsula.

"We had one last year, as you recall," he said. "There's been a lot of discussion, as you know, of Korea, of the peninsula, and developments there already."

Many countries also opposed bringing political issues into what they felt should be a primarily economic forum.

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, who plays host to next year's APEC summit, admitted that security issues were inextricably bound with economic security but said Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions merited little time at the APEC talks.

"The talk about the issue of North Korea was very short, and was not presented by President Bush, that's all I can say," Lagos told a press conference.

"Just one representative" brought up the North Korea issue, he said, without revealing who.

"It's my impression that probably it was not considered that what's going on with regard to the issue of the nuclear problem in the peninsula of Korea has anything to do with trade," he said.

Six-way talks in Beijing in August ended without a resolution over a nuclear stand-off that began last October when a senior US official accused North Korea of breaching a 1994 anti-nuclear pact by pursuing a covert nuclear development program.

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