Seoul urges US-North nuclear talks

SEOUL - South Korean President Kim Dae Jung called on Washington yesterday to hold one-on-one talks with Pyongyang to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis as the United States sought China's backing for a multilateral approach.

"More than anything, dialogue between North Korea and the US is the important key to a solution," the 78-year-old Kim said in a farewell speech to the nation on his last day in office.

As US Secretary of State Colin Powell talked to Chinese leaders in Beijing, close US ally Australia said it had also concluded reluctantly that direct talks were the only realistic option of resolving the crisis.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer of Australia, one of the few Western countries to have diplomatic relations with reclusive North Korea, said Washington had to sit down and reassure Pyongyang on its security.

"I do think from our conversations with the North Koreans, and conversations with other countries in the region, that probably at the end of the day there's no alternative," he said.

"Whether one likes it or not - and I don't particularly like it - this will have to be resolved bilaterally," Downer said as he left Canberra for Seoul to attend the inauguration of Roh Moo Hyun as South Korean President.

The latest crisis on the divided Korean Peninsula began in October, when US officials said North Korea had admitted to pursuing a covert nuclear weapons programme in violation of international commitments.

It escalated as Pyongyang expelled International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, said it would pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and threatened to resume missile testing and abandon the 1953 Korean War armistice.

North Korea insists on bilateral talks with the US and a non-aggression treaty to remove fears of a US attack, but Washington is pushing for a multilateral approach.

The US is trying to build a consensus to urge North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to abandon his nuclear ambitions, and, if he refuses, to crack down on his country economically.

Washington says it will not be "blackmailed" by North Korea. It says the international community has rewarded Pyongyang's provocative behaviour in the past and it should not do so again.

Kim Dae Jung, who hands power to Roh today, said South Korea's alliance with the US would remain vital to the security of the peninsula and the region even if the two Koreas were reunified.

"Realistically, for the maintenance of peace on the Korean peninsula, North-South reconciliation and the solid South Korea-US security alliance must be continued," Kim said.

"For the stability of Northeast Asia, the presence of US troops in South Korea is necessary now and after reunification."

In China, Powell tried to gain backing for the tough US stance on disarming Iraq by force and a diplomatic approach to ending the North Korean nuclear crisis.

China, the middle stop on his four-day visit to Asia, may prove a considerable challenge for Powell, who planned to urge Beijing to support, or at least not veto, a new UN Security Council resolution that could trigger a war to end Iraq's suspected efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.

China is also a central element in the multilateral strategy the US hopes will convince North Korea to end its nuclear weapons programme.

"They can do more," said a senior US official travelling with Powell, who came to Beijing after a night in Tokyo. He later heads to Seoul to attend today's inauguration of President-elect Roh.

Flanked by nearly a dozen aides, Powell held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in a lakeside Government guest house.

Asked if he expected an easy time in negotiations, Tang said: "Diplomatic talks have never been easy."

Powell later exchanged pleasantries with Vice-President Hu Jintao at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, before talks with President Jiang Zemin.

- REUTERS