South Korean president-elect Roh Moo-hyun urged the US yesterday to open talks with communist North Korea to try to solve the peninsula's nuclear crisis.
And in a sign Washington is eager to end a stand-off that has become a distraction from its campaign to disarm Iraq, a senior US official said he saw hope for a diplomatic solution.
Adding to the flurry of diplomatic activity, a Russian envoy landed in Beijing yesterday en route to Pyongyang, saying he was optimistic about his delicate mission.
"South Korea needs to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear development program," Roh told a gathering of US and European business leaders in Seoul.
"In order to convince North Korea, there needs to be dialogue between North Korea and the United States. I would like to urge the United States to actively pursue dialogue with North Korea," he said.
The White House had no immediate comment on Roh's proposal.
North Korea said it would talk to no one but the US and maintained its anti-American bombast even while extending a twig of an olive branch.
"The DPRK [North Korea] is fully ready for both dialogue and confrontation," the official Korean Central News Agency said.
"The US should bear in mind that all the issues can be settled satisfactorily at the dialogue with the DPRK only when the former has a sincere attitude based on good faith," it said.
James Moriarity, senior director for Asian affairs at the US National Security Council, said he saw hope for a peaceful outcome.
Asked on a visit to Tokyo if he was optimistic about resolving the crisis, he said, "Yes, we hope we are going to achieve a diplomatic and peaceful solution to the issue."
The crisis erupted last October when Washington said Pyongyang had admitted pursuing a nuclear weapons program and it escalated as North Korea expelled International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and threatened to resume missile tests.
Roh said he saw "no need to worry" too much, apparently seeking to play down remarks a day earlier by Defense Minister Lee Jun, who said South Korea was prepared for the "worst-case scenario" of war between the North and the US.
"I will closely consult with Japan, China, Russia and the EU and other countries while continuing to convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program," Roh said.
Returning to his campaign theme that Seoul's 50-year-old alliance with the US needed to be updated to reflect South Korea's vibrant democracy and an economy that is the world's 13th largest, Roh said recent anti-US demonstrations were "voices aspiring for a more mature relationship.
"The demonstrations were staged on the premise that the US troops would continue to stay in Korea," he said of the outpouring of anger over the accidental deaths of two schoolgirls crushed by a US army vehicle in June and the acquittal by a US military court of the US soldiers driving it.
He said even after peace on the Korean peninsula "US forces in South Korea will still play an important role in achieving a balance of power in the Northeast Asian region."
North Korea, set on edge a year ago when US President George W. Bush bracketed it with Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil," has made clear that the crisis could be solved only through talks with the US.
Roh said North Korea had to be induced to open up to the outside world.
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