IMF MAY INVITE N.KOREA TO FALL ASSEMBLY ON SHAREHOLDERS' REQUEST.

SEOUL, May 1 Asia Pulse - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday that it is ready to invite North Korea as a special guest to its annual assembly in Washington in the coming fall to help the isolated socialist country "better understand how the international financial institutions work".

Director David Coe of the IMF's Asia Pacific Department, however, conditioned the invitation to an initiative for that by major IMF shareholders such as South Korea, the United States and Japan.

"If some of the shareholders want the IMF to invite North Korea, then that might happen," the senior IMF official said, noting that the international lending agency will send an official invitation to the Pyongyang government if the IMF's major shareholders agree to the invitation.

Coe recommended that North Korea join the IMF first before making efforts to seek a membership in the Asian Development Bank or any other international financial organizations.

"This is not only the U.S. position but the position of other countries," he said. "North Korea should join the IMF first before joining ADB."

The IMF official, who was formerly the senior resident representative of the IMF's Seoul Office, was apparently referring to the application North Korea filed with the ADB for membership in 1999.

The application has not yet been processed properly due mainly to opposition from the United States, which deems the North as a country which sponsors state terrorism, according to government officials here.