North Korea is to send a senior delegation to this month's annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Prague, the first time it has attended one of the most important annual events on the global financial calend ar.

World Bank officials say North Korean membership of the two instituti ons is still a long way off, but Pyongyang's decision to attend the meetings as an observer underlines its continuing interest in engaging with the outside worl d. This is despite the setback last week when Pyongyang's delegation to the Unit ed Nations summit returned home in a huff after protesting at US security search es.

IMF officials said North Korea - as well as East Timor - would be att ending the meetings as "special guests". This meant the delegations could attend the main sessions of the meeting but would not be allowed into restricted meetings, including some committee meetings.

They would "be able to interact with member countries and familiarise themselves with the working of the two inst itutions", an official said.

The presence of senior North Korean official s in Prague may allow for a series of bilateral meetings with ministers from ind ustrial countries eager to receive a first-hand report on one of the world's mos t obscure economies. Few statistics are available on North Korea.

A modes t recovery is thought to be under way after several years of severe recession an d famine but it is widely believed that North Korea badly needs an infusion of i nvestment to revive its dilapidated infrastructure.

Safe nuclear power ge neration being installed by an international consortium led by the US, South Kor ea and Japan will bring little benefit without large investment on the national grid.

North Korea recently sought to revive its long- standing applicatio n to join the Asian Development Bank but its approach was rebuffed by the US and Japan amid concern at its missile programme. Similar objections would almost ce rtainly be raised to any application to join the IMF and the World Bank, though some development officials believe informal policy advice might be available ahe ad of membership.

A similar approach was adopted by Vietnam after it deci ded to reform its economy more than a decade ago. Much initial restructuring was complete without membership of the Bretton Woods institutions; only later did l oan funds become available. Bank officials say that after apparently going slow on reform, Vietnam is showing renewed interest.