Rice in Seoul for final push on North Korea

SEOUL - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, seeking a way to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions, met with South Korean officials who have proposed supplying power to the North in return for a deal.

North Korea agreed at the weekend to return later this month to talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programmes. For a year it has boycotted the talks that also include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

Seoul is the final leg of a visit to Asia for Rice, who has also been in Beijing and Tokyo for talks on North Korea. Rice was scheduled to brief reporters after her talks with South Korean leaders, officials said.

Japan and the United States urged the North on Tuesday to abandon nuclear weapons or risk failure in the six-way talks.

South Korea said it had offered to supply 2000 megawatts of power, which would almost double the impoverished communist state's electricity output, directly to the North if it agreed to scrap its nuclear weapons programmes.

North Korea has the potential to generate 7500 megawatts of power, but fuel shortages have cut output to nearly a third, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry.

Seoul's top envoy to the six-party talks said the North has been pressing for years for help in generating electricity and he thinks the sweetener offered by the South will help persuade the North to accept a deal.

"Considering the constructive and positive effect, I expect the offer to be accepted in some form," Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told SBS radio on Wednesday.

Rice's visit to South Korea contrasts the different approaches The US and South Korea have taken toward North Korea but also highlights the shared view among regional powers that unity is essential in reaching any solution.

In recent weeks, South Korea has stepped up its bilateral contacts with North Korea, with Seoul officials saying they hoped increased humanitarian assistance would help coax the North to reach a negotiated settlement on its nuclear weapons programmes.

The Bush administration has long opposed giving incentives to the North before it commits to abandoning its nuclear programmes and previously urged allies to withhold huge new aid infusions.

On Tuesday, Seoul said it had agreed to send 500,000 tones of rice to North Korea to help stave off a food crisis in the reclusive state.

Analysts have said the North's pressing food crisis has partially contributed to its decision to resume talks on its nuclear programmes.

Negotiators to the six-party talks from Japan, South Korea and the US will meet in Seoul on Thursday to coordinate their approach.

Reviving the talks has become more urgent because of concerns the North has expanded its nuclear arsenal to eight or more weapons, up from one or two when President George W Bush came to office in 2001.

North Korea declared in February it was now a nuclear power.

The next round of the six-party talks will be held in the week of July 25. Japan's Kyodo news agency, quoting Japanese government sources, reported late on Tuesday the talks would open on July 27 and run for around three days.

- REUTERS