US and South Korea vow to seek solution to nuclear crisis

THE United States and South Korea have vowed to seek a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis as US Stealth fighters and an aircraft carrier assembled in the South for annual exercises.

In a telephone call to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, US President George W Bush repeated his call for multilateral talks to end the standoff over the North’s suspected nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea wants direct talks with the United States. At the United Nations, China seems to be backing its East Asian communist neighbour’s stance while diplomats say Russia, also influential in Pyongyang, is sitting on the fence.