Apec leaders vow to eliminate WMD

"We condemned terrorist acts in the region that took thousands of lives and aimed to destabilise economic prosperity and security in the Asia-Pacific region," the 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders said.

Terror attacks "constitute a clear challenge", the leaders said in a statement released at the end of their two-day annual summit in the South Korean city of Busan.

"To confront these ongoing threats, we reaffirmed our commitment... to review progress on our efforts to dismantle trans-boundary terrorist groups, eliminate the threat of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery," the leaders said.

They demanded "substantive progress" yesterday in stalled North Korean disarmament talks following Pyongyang's pledge to scrap its nuclear programmes.

The 21 leaders agreed that "positive steps" had been achieved in a September round of six-party talks when the Stalinist state conditionally agreed to give up its atomic ambitions.

But they called for more concrete action after the talks deadlocked earlier this month in a follow-up meeting, according to South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun.

He was speaking on behalf of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders at the close of their annual two-day summit here.

Roh said in a chairman's verbal statement that the leaders, including US President George W. Bush, China's Hu Jintao, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Japan's Junichiro Koizumi, were pleased with "the positive steps that have recently been made" in the six-party talks.

US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to the statement that also stressed that any new counter-terrorism measures must comply with laws on human rights.

Several Apec members such as the United States, Indonesia, Russia and the Philippines have been victims of attacks.