North Korea demands talks, says army ready for US

8.00am

SEOUL/VIENNA - North Korea said on Monday its troops were at the ready in case of United States aggression, as tensions rose over the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.

The United Nations watchdog that oversaw a freeze in the communist state's nuclear programme until it was thrown out in December said it would hold an emergency session on February 12 and was likely to ask the UN Security Council to take up the issue.

"I've exhausted all possibilities within my power to bring North Korea into compliance," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told Reuters in an interview in Vienna.

"That doesn't mean the Security Council necessarily will have to move to economic sanctions or military action," he said. "Probably the Security Council will start again by looking for a peaceful resolution."

The crisis erupted in October when Washington said Pyongyang was trying to enrich uranium in violation of a 1994 accord, under which it froze its nuclear programme in exchange for two energy-generating reactors and economic assistance.

In December, North Korea expelled UN inspectors and threatened to reactivate a plant feared capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium. In January, it pulled out of the global treaty preventing the spread of nuclear arms.

Radio Pyongyang quoted Korean People's Army chiefs as vowing loyalty to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who it said had toured two army units over the weekend as his country vilified the United States over the three-month-old nuclear impasse.

North Korea has repeatedly accused the United States of making preparations to attack over the crisis, including deploying an aircraft carrier in waters off the peninsula.

Washington has denied the North Korean assertions, but US officials have announced steps to shore up the American military presence in South Korea with troops and equipment to deter the North in the event of a US war with Iraq.

"Our army and people are in full combat readiness to cope with indiscriminate military and political moves stemming from the US imperialist warhawks' strategy to dominate the Korean peninsula," said the Radio Pyongyang broadcast.

North Korea's ruling Workers Party newspaper weighed in with a warning that the crisis would worsen unless Washington accepted Pyongyang's demand for talks and a non-aggression pact.

"As long as the US resorts to a cynical ploy, turning (its) back on the DPRK's (North Korea's) demand for direct and equal negotiations and conclusion of a non-aggression treaty, the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula cannot be settled any time," said the Rodong Sinmun in an editorial.

"It will only deteriorate the crisis," said an English-language text of the editorial.

Despite the recent sabre-rattling by North Korea's state-controlled media, there have been no unusual troop movements in the North, South Korea's Defence Ministry said.

Last week, US officials said satellite surveillance showed North Korea was moving fuel rods around the controversial reactor complex, including possibly some of the 8000 spent fuel rods that experts consider a key step in building bombs.

But there was no sign that crucial reprocessing of those spent rods had begun, US officials added.

Last week, the commander of US forces in the Pacific asked the Pentagon for more troops, aircraft and warships to deter any North Korean "adventure" should the United States go to war with Iraq.

The reinforcements sought included several thousand troops to bolster the 37,000 already based in South Korea, along with B-1 and B-52 bombers and possibly an aircraft carrier.

The Seoul-based US 8th Army announced on Monday that the transfer of about 2900 officers and soldiers slated to leave South Korea in the next three months would be postponed to maintain full mission readiness in the country.

The "Stop Movement" order was not directly linked to the nuclear crisis, an 8th Army spokesman said.

An envoy of South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun travelled to Washington on Sunday to consult on policies towards North Korea.

The envoy, member of parliament Chyung Dai-chul, was set to meet Secretary of State Colin Powell and other high-ranking US officials during his four-day visit.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: North Korea