Global powers push for N-arms talks to resume

BEIJING - North Korea is committed to holding six-party talks aimed at ending the nuclear weapons crisis, but with the United States election looming it has not indicated when, a British Government minister said yesterday.

Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said that in meetings with top officials during his four-day visit he pressed the isolated North to return to the talks and improve its human rights record, but the two sides remained far apart.

"At the end of those discussions, what was clear to me was that the North Koreans were saying they were still committed to the six-party talks process but weren't prepared to commit to a date," Rammell told a news briefing at the Beijing airport after returning from Pyongyang.

"I simply said to them, 'You have got to come back to the table'."

The two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China last held talks in Beijing in June and agreed to hold another round by the end of this month.

With the month half gone, no date has been fixed for negotiations on ending the crisis which has bubbled since October 2002, when the United States said North Korean officials had admitted to pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons programme.

Rammell said the two sides had talked about the US election in November and whether North Korea would have to deal with President George W. Bush or Democrat candidate John Kerry. Bush, early in his tenure, declared the isolated state part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and pre-war Iraq.

"Certainly one of the factors that I think they are considering, and I discussed this issue with them in detail, is the timing of the American presidential election, and I made clear to them my view that whoever wins the presidential election ... North Korea will be faced with broadly the same strategic policy from the United States, and this isn't just about the United States," Rammell said.

"All of us in the international community have got real concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons capability and we want it resolved."

During the talks, North Korean officials raised the revelation that South Korea had pursued a secret nuclear programme, Rammell said.

He urged North Korea to follow the example of Libya, which announced plans to unilaterally disarm in December in return for international aid.

- REUTERS