While he raised questions about the buildup, he also exchanged greetings with Venezuelan defense minister Gen. Raul Isaias Baduel, who also is attending the meeting.

"I have spoken to Mr. Rumsfeld to convince him that he should try smoking Venezuela's good tobacco," Baduel told the Associated Press. "He said he doesn't smoke, that his wife wouldn't let him."

Baduel, who did not meet one-on-one with Rumsfeld, also said his country's recent military spending spree wasn't "an arms race," despite Washington's protests.

Rumsfeld also did not meet with Chavez, who has repeatedly charged that United States is planning to invade his country, a claim American officials dismiss as preposterous. And he said Sunday that he's heard the Bush administration is plotting to assassinate him or topple his regime.

U.S. Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, chief of U.S. Southern Command, called the accusation "mindless" and "way over the top." But he also agreed that Venezuela's recent deal to buy roughly $3 billion worth of arms from Russia - including rifles, jet fighters and helicopters - is triggering "more concern from more countries."

Meanwhile, Craddock and other officials said Monday that they don't see a credible threat in Venezuela's call for the creation of an anti-U.S. military coalition with other leftist countries in the region. Craddock said Brazil's defense minister told the gathering he doesn't see a need for a regional military organization.

Gen. Moises Omar Hallesleven, the commander of the Nicaraguan military, told U.S. reporters he is not concerned about the Chavez effort.

Venezuela, he said through an interpreter, has very weak influence in the region. Hallesleven also vowed that as long as he is its leader, the Nicaraguan military will remain apolitical and professional - even if Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega wins the upcoming presidential election.

Chavez grabbed headlines recently when he called Bush "the devil" and slammed U.S. leaders for trying to block his country from taking a seat on the U.N. Security Council.

U.S. officials have long considered Chavez a destabilizing force. And they have suggested that Venezuela would make the Security Council unworkable if the nation were to win its bid against U.S.-backed Guatemala for a rotating council seat.

Rumsfeld, in his formal remarks to the gathering, also made a reference to the other main U.S. antagonist in the region: Cuba.

He said he hoped that one day soon "the final holdout in our hemisphere against the democratic sweep of history will give its citizens the right to choose their own destiny and will participate in our conference."

Rumsfeld also called for more regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

"These new challenges can be solved only if we work together to protect our free democratic institutions and to provide economic opportunities for our people," Rumsfeld said.

The military conference, along with a NATO defense ministers meeting and other military visits in the Balkans last week, have largely kept Rumsfeld out of Washington for the past week, where there is renewed debate on his stewardship of the Iraq war.

He said he will not resign, and told reporters he has not read, and likely won't read, the new book, "State of Denial" by Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward, that is critical of his stewardship of the war.

Once the target is within 10 meters, it will demand a pre-programmed military secret code. If this code is not provided, it could give three possible responses: sound an alarm, fire rubber bullets or open fire with a K-3 machine gun.

Since 2003 South Korea' s government and private sector have invested $5 million each on developing military robots in an attempt to prevent future loss of military manpower - especially important in light of South Korea's dwindling birthrate.

This ten million dollar project is set to be marketed next year. The robots will also be tauted for use in guarding civilian facilities such as airports, power plants and oil pipelines.

The initial price will be around $200,000 per robot and both Korea University and the fourfold conglomerate who teamed up to create the robot - Samsung Techwin Co., Sejin System Co., MediaZen and Sysfo Lab Co. - hope to reach sales of over $200 million in the first year.

DPRK "will never use nuclear weapons first but strictly prohibit any threat of nuclear weapons and nuclear transfer," the statement said.

Meanwhile, DPRK also affirmed that it would strive to "realize the denuclearization of the [Korean] peninsula and give impetus to the worldwide nuclear disarmament and the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons."

The statement accused the United States of adopting a hostile policy towards DPRK, saying that's why it must conduct a nuclear test as a way of bolstering war deterrent.

"Under the present situation... the U.S. moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK have reached the worst phase, going beyond the extremity," it said.

"The DPRK can no longer remain an on-looker to the developments," it added.

"I'm very anxious to see whether I can come out with the same level of support...I have been encouraged by the very strong and consistent level of support for my candidacy," he said.

Ban denied that the perception of him as a strong US ally would impede efforts to resolve issues such as the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programmes.

"That kind of notion is something like Cold War-era understanding. These days the authority and mandate of the secretary general comes from member states."

Ban said a good working relationship with Washington was desirable, but on specific issues he pledged to act as an impartial mediator.

"The US is a very important member state of the UN but the US also needs the UN. The US can work very closely with the UN in promoting its interests, promoting universal values.

"The UN needs very active participation and support from the US. Without this it may be very difficult for the UN to smoothly function."

Ban said his previous work with the world body equipped him to play "a very important harmonious coordinating role."

"I am confident I could heal the rift," he said.

The career diplomat said his mild-mannered and soft-spoken image belies an inner toughness.

"I may look soft from the outside but I have inner strength when it's really necessary. I've always been very decisive.

"In Asian countries humility is regarded as a virtue. Soft-speaking should in no way be regarded as a lack of leadership or commitment."

Ban, 62, said the most urgent issue confronting the UN was "management reform, regaining the trust and confidence of member states and major stakeholders."

He said its activities are overstretched because of the ineffective delivery of some services. "We need to consolidate, coordinate, reduce the overlap between agencies.

"We need to promise less and deliver more."

Ban urged smooth implementation of the millennium development goals to reduce poverty and said the UN's "three pillars" of peace and security, development and human rights are linked.

"Without development you can't ensure peace and stability. It is almost empty words to promote human rights when people have no food and live in abject poverty."

South Korea, which rose from the devastation of war to become the world's 11th largest economy, could play a bridging role, he said.

Ban also urged strong action to protect communities threatened by genocide.

"When a country is not able to protect its own people from crimes against humanity and genocide and prevents the international community from intervening on the excuse of sovereignty, the international community has a responsibility to protect those people from genocide," he said.

He said the Sudanese government must accept the Security Council resolution to deploy a peacekeeping mission in its Darfur region.

"It's very frustrating that the Sudanese government leaders oppose the deployment of blue helmets. I hope Security Council members take more resolute action on this matter."

Ban said he has no plans to sit up to hear the outcome of the fourth straw poll, after an intensive schedule of speeches and interviews. "I need a few hours' sleep."

The Council scheduled a formal vote for next Monday to make its verdict official, which should lead to Mr. Ban's being elevated to the position of the world's most important international civil servant on Jan. 1.

Secretary General Kofi Annan is to step down Dec. 31 after two five-year terms, and under United Nations procedures, the 15-member Council selects one name and sends it to the 192-member General Assembly for appointment.

Mr. Ban nailed down his selection by winning his fourth straight informal poll, this one with a different colored ballot for the five veto-bearing members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - to show whether any of them were opposed.

In a contest in which the ambassadors had the options of voting "encourage," "discourage" or "no opinion," Mr. Ban won 14 positive votes, no negatives and one "no opinion," from one of the 10 rotating members.

There were objections from permanent members - signaling potential vetoes - against all five of the other active candidates. (One had withdrawn.)

Mr. Ban will inherit the leadership of a global organization with 9,000 workers, a $5 billion annual budget and tasks ranging from education, health care and emergency assistance to areas hit by natural disaster, to peacekeeping in nations emerging from conflicts.

He will also take over at a moment when the United Nations has been shaken by management lapses and scandals, and faces continuing demands to overhaul its procedures. At the same time, it is a moment when the United Nations finds itself back at the center of many of the world's most intractable problems in places like Lebanon, Sudan, Iran, Kosovo and North Korea.

Mr. Ban has said he will devote particular attention to efforts to broker a settlement in the Middle East.

Mr. Ban, 62, is a soft-spoken man who in six months of campaigning around the world has had to learn the Western art of self-promotion after early audiences complained they found his laid-back presentation underwhelming. He still frequently cites his own "humility" in exercising responsibility, but argues that it is an asset that should not be confused with indecisiveness.

In response to concerns about whether he has the strength and presence to be secretary general, he has pointed to his leadership in the weighty and delicate talks aimed at ending the nuclear standoff with North Korea.

Mr. Ban is familiar with the United Nations, where he served as first secretary at the South Korean mission from 1974 to 1978 and was chief assistant to Han Seung-soo, president of the General Assembly in 2001. He has also served as director of the United Nations division at the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

His selection will carry great resonance in South Korea, a country created by the United Nations in 1948 and defended by United Nations-authorized troops in the Korean War.

In his lifetime, South Korea has been a model for development, transformed from a war-torn impoverished country into one of the world's wealthiest.

As a foreign service officer for three decades, Mr. Ban has been a top official in the Korean Embassy in New Delhi and ambassador to Austria. He became foreign minister in January 2004.

He says he first dreamed of becoming a diplomat when, as an 18-year-old student visiting Washington in 1962, he met President Kennedy at the White House.

Mr. Ban has had extensive contact with the United States and is considered politically close to Washington. John R. Bolton, the American ambassador, said after the vote, "The United States is very pleased with the outcome."

Six of the seven candidates were Asian in a year seen as Asia's turn at the top job. The last Asian secretary general was U Thant of Burma, who left office in 1971.

As in the previous three votes, the second finisher on Monday was an Indian, Shashi Tharoor, 50, the under secretary general for public information. He received 10 positives, 3 negatives and 2 "no opinion" votes.

The next four, who trailed far behind, were Vaira Vike-Freiberga, 68, the president of Latvia, the only woman and non-Asian in the race; Ashraf Ghani, 57, a former finance minister of Afghanistan and current chancellor of Kabul University; Surakiart Sathirathai, 47, the deputy to Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister of Thailand who was deposed in a military coup last month; and Prince Zeid al-Hussein, 42, Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations.

Jayantha Dhanapala, 67, of Sri Lanka, a former under secretary general for disarmament, withdrew Friday after drawing only three positive votes in the third balloting.

Virtually undetectable, with its steerable payload (stabilized to provide excellent video quality) and modular design (allows for other payloads to meet Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance requirements), the Skylark offers a very flexible and resourceful system which will provide invaluable "over the hill" visibility to the soldier.

Driven by an electrically powered motor, it has a flight endurance of up to 90 minutes. Designed to be soldier-friendly and highly portable, the Skylark integrates three air vehicles into one backpack and has a ruggedized ground station and communications antenna.

Thales Canada, Systems Division, currently manages two UAV fleets for DND. The Silver Fox UAV, from Advanced Ceramics Research, provided to the Canadian Forces Experimentation Centre, is a modular high performance small UAV to evaluate concepts. With a payload of 4 Kg, an endurance of at least 8 hours and equipped with a specially engineered gasoline engine, this system has been used by each of the three services to explore UAV use.

Thales Canada, Systems Division, caters to DND requirements for Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Critical to the role of performing as a Prime Contractor is understanding the customer's requirements and then matching the best components, including the air vehicle, to provide the premium (value and capability) solution.

Thales is the Prime Contractor for the UK Watchkeeper UAV program, and has recently been awarded a contract by the French defence procurement agency to examine armed UAV concepts.