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.

Roh’s spokeswoman said yesterdayon Friday Seoul hoped the conversation between the two leaders would help calm financial markets. Investors have been shaken by Pyongyang’s continuous moves to ratchet up pressure on Washington for crisis talks.

South Korean Finance Minister Kim Jin-pyo said Roh’s government would work hard to close a “perception gap” with outsiders who worry more about the crisis than South Koreans do. Seoul and Washington were on the same page in wanting to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, he said. But he added that South Korea rejects the use of military force.