APEC summit to see discussion of North Korean nuclear program

"It stands to reason that we intend to put to use possible contacts with our colleagues from China, South Korea, Japan, the United States and other countries to compare our positions on the sidelines of the summit, including [our views] on the Korean Peninsula nuclear problem," Alexei Borodavkin said.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings began on Sunday and will culminate in a summit on November 14-15.

Borodavkin, who is also a Russian deputy foreign minister, said although the development of trade and economic cooperation remained the main focus of APEC gatherings, leaders of the organization's member states would not pass up the opportunity to discuss regional security issues

"However, it is not usual practice to discuss critical political problems with all APEC participants during our meetings," Borodavkin added.

APEC comprises 21 states, including Australia, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, Singapore, the United States, and Japan.

The Kremlin earlier said that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would meet with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the sidelines of the summit. U.S. President Barack Obama is also due to attend.

Six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., Russia, Japan and China on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ground came to a halt in April when North Korea walked out of negotiations in protest against the United Nations' condemnation of its missile tests, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.