Powell says allies crucial over North Korea

WASHINGTON - Under growing pressure from Congress to deal urgently with the North Korean nuclear threat, Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that the United States was talking to Pyongyang but insisted that US allies in the region must be part of the process.

"While I am sensitive to the charge that you've got to start talking to them right away or else they will do something that will be more troubling and destabilising, I think it is essential that we do it in a way that keeps all of our allies together," Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Powell said the Administration "will talk directly" to Pyongyang, but was looking for "the right formula to move forward" to give the North the security assurances it demands while obtaining a guarantee that it will halt its nuclear programme.

North Korea said this week it had restarted - or was poised to restart - the atomic plant at the heart of its suspected nuclear arms programme, a move the US called a dangerous development by a "terrorist regime".

Also, a senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official was quoted by Britain's Guardian newspaper as saying North Korea might strike at US forces pre-emptively rather than wait for an American attack after a war with Iraq.

Powell testified before the committee as several Senate Democrats issued statements blasting President George W. Bush's handling of the North Korean situation, which they said appeared to be near spiralling out of control.

US presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that the United States had "robust plans for any contingencies", including military action.

He said North Korea's warning that any US attack on nuclear facilities would spark a "total war" was a "real cause for concern", but added that President Bush still thought the nuclear dispute could be curbed peacefully.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: North Korea