Bush meets with Chinese, Russian leaders to protest arming of `axis of evil' nations.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Diego Ibarguen

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France _ His war against Iraq concluded, President Bush Sunday used meetings with world leaders to focus on illicit and clandestine nuclear weapons programs in the other two countries included in what he calls an Axis of Evil, North Korea and Iran.

In a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao during a multi-nation summit here, Bush rejected a proposal from North Korea for a U.S.-North Korean bilateral negotiation over nuclear weapons. He insisted anew that any talks include Japan and South Korea as well.

And in a separate meeting in St. Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day, Bush stressed the need to stop Iran from using a nuclear power program _ aided by Russian business _ to develop nuclear weapons.

"We are concerned about Iran's advanced nuclear program," Bush said. Putin agreed, and he and his government insisted they are not helping the Iranians with any weapons program.

At Evian for the annual meeting of the Group of Eight summit, Bush met with Hu, who personally conveyed the North Korean proposal to hold separate talks with the United States at the same time as multi-national talks with several of its neighbors.

A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the North Korean proposal represented a slight move away from an insistence on talks exclusively with the United States. But Bush rejected any talks that excluded Japan and South Korea, the countries most immediately threatened by North Korean nuclear weapons.