NORTH KOREA: North Korea yesterday poured cold water on US offers of aid once suspicions about the state's nuclear intentions are cleared. It said Washington was trying to trick it into disarming.
As capitals around Asia buzzed with diplomatic efforts to calm the Korean peninsula, North Korea's foreign ministry accused Washington of bad faith, and insisted a non-aggression pact was the only way to defuse the nuclear crisis.
"The US loudmouthed supply of energy and food aid are like a painted cake pie in the sky as they are possible only after the DPRK [North Korea] is totally disarmed," said the statement, issued late last night by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"It is clear that the US talk about dialogue is nothing but a deceptive drama to mislead the world public opinion," the ministry said.
White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer dismissed the statement as unhelpful bluster. "We still have not received any official word from North Korea. That's an additional unfortunate statement that North Korea has made. This is why Japan, China, South Korea, Russia and the United States view this matter as a matter of serious concern."
Washington has accused Pyongyang of covertly developing nuclear weapons, a charge the foreign ministry spokesman again denied yesterday. The crisis came to a head on Saturday when North Korea pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Earlier yesterday, China and the US held talks in Beijing, and Japan and South Korea met in Seoul, each working to build on Washington's offer to revive a programme to give Pyongyang food and energy if it dropped its nuclear ambitions.
In Beijing, US assistant secretary of state, Mr James Kelly, faced pressure from China - North Korea's neighbour and main ally - to hold direct talks with Pyongyang, as demanded by the North, as soon as possible.China has offered to host such talks and Russia said it planned to send a special envoy to key capitals to help find a diplomatic solution.
Mr Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said after talks in Moscow he was optimistic diplomatic efforts would ease tensions.
Mr Kelly was expected to ask Beijing, which provides grain and oil to North Korea at special prices, to put more pressure on Pyongyang to drop its nuclear ambitions and avoid provocative moves such as missile testing.
In the strongest sign the White House had dropped a ban on incentives to resolve the issue, President Bush said on Tuesday he might revive his administration's one-time effort to aid North Korea if it abandoned its nuclear program.
But North Korea said it had examined the US offers and found that "in essence, there is no change in the US conditional stand that it would have dialogue with the DPRK only after it scraps its 'nuclear program'."
North Korea has agreed with the South to hold a ninth round of minister-level talks in Seoul from January 21st to 24th. The talks normally focus on economic co-operation, but have taken on an urgent tone following the recent crisis.