Russia denies N Korea asked for APEC invitation

Japanese media reports claiming that Pyongyang asked Moscow to invite a North Korean delegation to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC-2012) in Russia’s Vladivostok are false, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Japanese media first alleged that North Korea had requested an invitation. "The information reported by Japanese media does not reflect reality. There was no such a request from North Korea," a spokesman for the Russian ministry was quoted by Russian news agency (RIA Novosti) as saying. North Korea is not a memeber of APEC. The 2012 APEC summit that will be held in the Far Eastern city in September 8-9 will cost Russia about 600 billion rubles ($18.5 billion) spent on building over 50 facilities and rebuilding public utility networks.