North Korea calls for talks on nuclear crisis

North Korea today tried to defuse its nuclear spat with Washington and offered talks without preconditions.

The rogue state rejected US pressure to stop work on its nuclear programme and said tensions could be resolved if Washington agrees to negotiate a non-aggression treaty.

But Pyongyang’s ambassador to China, Choe Jin Su, said his government rejected any preconditions on the talks. The US government has insisted the North stop its nuclear work before any talks can take place.

“If the US legally assures us of security by concluding a non-aggression treaty, the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula will be easily settled,” Choe said.

“The US should respect international agreements and respond with dialogue toward the North Korea without any preconditions,” the ambassador said.

Choe defended the North’s decision to restart its plutonium-based nuclear programme last month, a step that raised international fears that it might produce weapons of mass destruction.

He accused the US of threatening the North with nuclear weapons, and said it was forced to act when a US-led coalition in October cut off energy aid promised under a 1994 agreement.

“We are compelled not to implement” the 1994 nuclear freeze agreement, Choe said. “The situation is getting worse and worse.”

He blamed the United States for the recent tensions, and said American efforts to rally international pressure on the North were only making things worse.

“We were forced to take self-defence measures against this threat for national dignity and the right to existence,” he said.

Meanwhile, South Korea said it would present a compromise designed to reduce tensions between the North and Washington.

President-elect Roh Moon-hyun hopes the proposal will solve the dispute between President Bush and communist leader Kim Jong II before he takes office on February 25.

One proposal being studied required North Korea publicly to give up its nuclear weapons programme and for Washington to guarantee the communist state’s security “in the form of a letter or document”.

But a South Korean official said the American position is that it would never accept signing a treaty with North Korea that will require congressional ratification.

Bush sharply rebuked North Korea’s Kim yesterday, saying he has “no heart for somebody who starves his folks,” though he said he remains confident in a peaceful solution to the stand-off.

The border between the two Koreas is the world’s most heavily militarised, with more than two million troops massed on both sides. Millions of people were killed or injured in the 1950-53 Korean War. About 37,000 US troops are currently stationed in South Korea.