Washington - Representatives of the world's largest economies will gather in South Korea this weekend for another round of US-led talks on curbing global warming, as a US government report warned of worrying weather extremes across North America in the coming years.

The Major Economies Meeting, launched by the United States in September, is aimed at getting the world's largest polluters to agree on future measures to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The Seoul meeting - the group's fourth - comes amid a flurry of activity ahead of the Group of Eight nations' annual summit in Japan next month. Tokyo is hoping that development and climate change action will be the top issues of the July G8 gathering.

Science and finance ministers from G8 countries last week called for closer cooperation between advanced and emerging economies to help address the effects of global warming and boost funding to help poorer nations adapt to its worst effects.

A report by the US Climate Change Science Program warned Thursday that North America will not be immune from the consequences of global warming.

Compiled from more than 100 individual studies, the report said parts of the continent face everything from stronger storms to longer heat waves to more severe droughts as a result of man-made climate change. It was the most comprehensive government assessment yet of the consequences of global warming for North America.

The Major Economies Meeting has come under fire from some environmental groups worried that the US is trying to undermine United Nations-led talks aimed at getting a new global climate treaty by the end of 2009. The US insists the meetings merely help advance the UN process.

The Kyoto Protocol, the first global attempt to set country targets on reducing emissions, expires in 2012. The US refused to join Kyoto largely on the basis that emerging economies were not subjected to restrictions, and has insisted any future treaty include major developing polluters like China and India.

President George W Bush pressured the European Union to make a global climate deal dependent on the inclusion of rapidly developing nations during a summit with EU leaders earlier this month.

But the two sides have been at loggerheads over targets on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming and it is unlikely any breakthrough on a global deal will come in the coming month.

Bush has resisted calls for mandatory cuts in the emissions of US industries, preferring a voluntary approach and incentives for developing renewable energy technologies.

The UN hopes to have a new global climate treaty agreed at a major summit in Copenhagen at the end of next year. Many countries are looking towards a more favourable US approach when a new president takes office in January. (dpa)