PHUKET - SOUTHEAST Asian foreign ministers will on Monday express 'grave concern' over North Korea's nuclear tests and vow to help Indonesia probe last week's Jakarta bombings, officials said.

The statements will come in a communique after the ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) met in the Thai resort island of Phuket, ahead of the continent's biggest security forum later this week.

'On North Korea, the ministers on North Korea will express grave concern over the recent nuclear explosions and urge it to return to six-party talks,' a senior Asean official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

North Korea's foreign minister has declined to attend Thursday's Asean Regional Forum in Phuket, instead sending a roving ambassador to the grouping of 27 nations including the United States and European Union.

Pyongyang quit the talks with the United States, South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan after the UN Security Council censured its April 5 long-range rocket launch. It staged its second nuclear test on May 25.

Meanwhile, the Asean ministers' communique would also speak out on the bombings of the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta on Friday which left up to nine people dead and dozens more wounded, the Asean official said.

'In the Indonesian blasts, they will condemn the bombings and Asean will also offer help to bring the perpetrators to justice,' the official said.

Indonesian officials suspect the blasts were the work of regional Islamist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), responsible for the 2002 Bali attacks and dozens of other bombings since the late 1990s.

The statement was also expected to include a mention of military-ruled Myanmar's treatment of political prisoners but this had not yet been finalised, he said.

A draft copy of the communique was not immediately available. -- AFP

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