"It is not acceptable for North Korea to develop nuclear weapons capabilities," Blair, who last week toured East Asia, said at a monthly monthly Downing Street press conference.

"North Korea needs to be locked into a process of dialogue with China and the United States, and South Korea and Japan should be added into the process, too," he said.

Blair's line was consistent with the one he took when he travelled last week to East Asia, via Washington, when he met the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China.

The North Korean nuclear crisis was triggered in October when Washington revealed that Pyongyang was running a nuclear programme in violation of a 1994 arms control accord.

North Korea kicked out UN nuclear inspectors, then withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has since claimed it has reprocessed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, an act which could herald efforts to build a bomb.

On the diplomatic front, North Korea has been holding out for one-on-one talks with the United States.

WAR.WIRE