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US calls on N Korea to resume nuclear disarmament talks

The US on Friday intensified efforts to resume nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, while confirming it was working with Japan on an emergency plan to deal with a possible crisis in the Korean peninsula.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a joint news conference with visiting South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon that the six-party talks could resume "fairly soon" if Pyongyang signals it was ready for denuclearization steps.

A first round of talks in Beijing last month involving the six -- the US, China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and Russia -- ended without apparent progress.

But Rice said on Friday that those five days of discussions had laid the groundwork for further negotiations.

"We did not make the progress that I think we would have liked, and we believe that the North Koreans need to come in a more constructive spirit," she said.

"But it does not mean there were not very productive discussions that took place during that round," she said.

Rice said there was "intensive discussion among the parties about a resumption of the six-party talks" and that if the North Koreans demonstrated they were "prepared to come with a constructive response," the negotiations could resume soon.

Rice declined to speculate on when the negotiations might resume, though her spokesman said the next round could take place later this month.

Song, for his part, said it was "North Korea's turn to come back to us with a positive and realistic response" to proposals made to Pyongyang during the talks from Dec. 18 to Dec. 22 in Beijing.

"I know of no substantive response from the North Koreans" yet, Rice added, but she said that Beijing was in discussions with the reclusive communist regime.

White House spokesman Tony Snow on Friday confirmed that Washington and Tokyo were working on an emergency plan for a possible crisis on the Korean peninsula, but said it was a routine contingency effort.

"People make plans all the time," Snow said after Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, in Tokyo, revealed that the aim was "to protect some 20,000 Japanese residents and tens of thousands of tourists" in South Korea.

"It is a standard part of any government's preparation to try to take a look at all alternatives, domestically and internationally, and try to prepare for them," Snow told reporters.

Rice played down press reports this week that North Korea was preparing for a second nuclear test as a way of pressuring its partners for concessions in the next round of talks.

"We don't see any change in the circumstances that we currently face," Rice said, adding that a new nuclear test by Pyongyang would "obviously further deepen their isolation."
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