Hopes rise over Korean nukes

DIPLOMATS could be on the verge of a breakthrough in negotiating an end to North Korea’s nuclear programme, it emerged yesterday.

The plan would see North Korea guaranteed security by five nations and in return the communist state would dismantle its nuclear facilities.

Details of the proposal already agreed between the USA, South Korea and Japan were sent to China yesterday.

It is hoped that Beijing will pass the offer on to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

There are concerns among some diplomats however, that North Korea may reject the plan because it calls for inspections at facilities which have never before been opened up to the outside world.

There is also no mention of a timetable for energy or economic aid to the country.

There is no demand that North

Korea return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it pulled out of earlier this year, after ejecting international inspectors from the Yongbyon nuclear site.

Kim Jong Il is thought unlikely to re-enter the treaty, but some diplomats believe North Korea's absence from it plays into the hands of America.

In the absence of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, Asian and US inspectors would instead be expected to conduct inspections.

"I suspect that's a deal breaker for the North Koreans," a senior Bush administration official told the New York Times.

North Korea is one of the Bush administration's so-called Axis of Evil.

Mr Bush has said the United States has no intention of invading North Korea.

But he has said "all options are on the table" if diplomacy fails to bring the country's nuclear programme to a halt.