US to consult allies on allaying security fears in Pyongyang

The US will discuss with its allies what "security assurance" could be offered to North Korea to stop Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday.

Talking ABC television, America's chief diplomat said the US and its allies will have to make a "judgement" call in the next few weeks as to what kind of security assurance would be appropriate.

"And we will have to make a judgement with our allies, over the next few weeks, before the next meeting, as to what kind of security assurance would be satisfactory for all of us to provide to the North Koreans so that they would feel comfortable in taking this step," Powell said.

The US had refused to offer North Korea a formal non-aggression treaty as a price for ending the diplomatic stalemate over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

But Powell has previously suggested that some form of US statement that it has no plans to attack or invade North Korea could be noted in some way by Congress, short of a formal treaty ratification.

During recent six-nation talks in Beijing, involving the US, China, Japan, North and South Korea and Russia, Pyongyang said it would disarm if the US re-started free oil shipments and sign a nonaggression treaty with North Korea.

Powell "we have to accept them at their word" and he added he does not view North Korea as the greatest threat to global peace.

Separately, President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, voiced satisfaction Sunday with the six-party talks aimed at defusing the crisis with North Korea.

"I believe we've got the best chance that we could possibly have given the six party format, given the fact that you've got all the relevant states there and particularly China there, with whom the North Koreans have a lot of interests; I think you've got the best chance now to get an enduring strategy," Rice told Fox television.

"The North Koreans had to have heard that message," she said. "Anything they do that continues to try and escalate this only deepens their isolation."

A test of a North Korean nuclear weapon or a multi-stage missile could be timed to coincide with the 55th anniversary of the founding of the communist state on Sept. 9, many analysts believe.