New Push for Korean Talks

North Korea said publicly for the first time on February 10 it had atomic weapons and was indefinitely suspending participation in six-party disarmament talks with South Korea, China, Russia, the US and Japan.

South Korean, US and Japanese negotiators agreed at the weekend to broaden the scope of the talks in the hope of enticing the North back. South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said participants could be more flexible.

"We indicated that the wide-ranging forum of discussions can incorporate the positions of both sides, combine them," Song said on KBS radio, referring to what he called "differences on methodology".

That may mean the North would be offered more chances to meet directly with US negotiators on the sidelines of the talks, analysts said.

But Song denied there would be direct negotiations between the North and the United States outside the six-party process, as North Korea has long demanded.

Although US and North Korean negotiators met separately on the sidelines of a previous round of talks, the discussions never amounted to a serious exchange.

North Korea hopes to get a formal security guarantee and recognition as an equal partner with the US.

North Korea has told South Korea it would return to talks on its nuclear drive in June and offer to suspend the programme in hopes of aid and a US pledge not to invade, a Japanese newspaper said yesterday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the Japanese government spokesman, said he had not heard of the reported development.

Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said yesterday North Korea’s declaration that it had nuclear weapons was "a matter of the utmost concern" and a diplomatic solution should be found urgently.

Amid new push to entice North Korea to the negotiating tables, Pyongyang navy yesterday accused South Korea of sending warships into its territorial waters off its western coast in "military provocations".

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice planned to visit Japan in late March for talks with Japanese officials on issues including North Korea’s nuclear programme.