The accord was reached at an export control policy consultation among senior officials from Japan, the United States, China, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, a Japanese trade ministry official said.

It was the first time that multilateral cooperation in export control was established in the Asian region, the official said.

The eight delegations notably agreed to establish a system through which they can inform each other about suspected shipments of weapons-related materials to North Korea via third countries, the official said.

They also agreed to work together in making legal arrangements and training experts to tighten export control, the official added.

It has become more difficult to make illegal exports to North Korea from Japan in recent years following a series of crackdowns but many Asian nations still have loose export controls.

In April, a Tokyo company associated with a pro-Pyongyang group of ethnic Koreans in Japan attempted to export devices that could be used to make missiles and nuclear weapons to North Korea via Thailand.

The devices, which control electric currents and can be used for enriching uranium, were seized in a third country, reportedly Hong Kong, after they were shipped under false documentation.

The eight economies are expected to hold a second meeting in Tokyo next March to work out specific measures to prevent shipments via third countries, the official said.

"We wish to disseminate the same measures to other Asian countries which did not take part in the meeting," he said.

The meeting was chaired by Takashi Suzuki, who heads the trade and economic cooperation bureau of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The proposed export control will supplement the so-called Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a scheme launched in May by US President George W. Bush on the interception of shipments of materials related to weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

PSI is joined by the world's 11 industrial powers with Japan being the only Asian participant.

WAR.WIRE