Sanctions mean a war warns the North

A DEFIANT North Korea warned sanctions against it would “mean a war,” as thousands of people rallied yesterday in the communist capital to support the country’s military.

The threat came as South Korea dispatched another top diplomat to Washington yesterday to seek a peaceful solution to the standoff over the North's nuclear program.

National security adviser Yim Sung-joon is to meet his US counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, and other White House officials. His visit coincides with talks already underway in Washington with diplomats from South Korea and Japan.

A day earlier, the UN nuclear watchdog gave North Korea a second chance to abandon its suspected weapons program delaying possible UN sanctions.

"Sanctions mean a war, and the war knows no mercy," said the North's official Korean Central News Agency yesterday.

In Pyongyang, more than 100,000 people bundled in dark overcoats and caps attended a state-orchestrated rally yesterday in support of a strong military. They vowed to "consider the military affairs as the most important state affair, exert utmost efforts to increase the national defence capacity," KCNA said.

Standing on a snow-covered plaza in neat rows, the demonstrators shook their clenched fists against the backdrop of white-and-red communist slogans, according to KCNA photographs carried by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Aside from possible UN sanctions, US officials have considered encouraging North Korea's neighbours to reduce economic ties with Pyongyang if the situation does not improve.

China, North Korea's last major ally, appealed yesterday for a negotiated settlement, but a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman wouldn't say whether Beijing is willing to intervene with the isolated nation.

"We hope to see a settlement of the issue through dialogue," said ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue. Asked several times at a news briefing about what China would do to encourage the North to seek such a settlement, she would say only that Beijing "maintains contact with all sides".

In its message, North Korea criticised the United States for portraying it as an international missile threat and retorted: "The US tops the world's list in producing and selling the weapons of mass destruction."

It also demanded Washington apologise for last month's seizure buy US and Spanish warships in the Arabian Sea of a North Korean ship carrying Scud missiles to Yemen. The cargo ship was later allowed to sail after Yemen promised the missiles would not be transferred elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region.

The North's sharp comments came as South Korean envoys upped efforts to persuade the United States to open dialogue with the communist state.

Washington assured envoys from Seoul and Tokyo on Monday that the United States would work closely with them to ease the crisis.

"We have no intention of invading North Korea," President Bush told reporters in the White House.

Hours earlier, the International Atomic Energy Agency approved a resolution demanding the North abandon its weapons program and readmit inspectors it expelled last month. The IAEA refrained from turning to the UN Security Council right away, but the agency's chief Mohamed ElBaradei warned it would do so if the North does not comply.