N. Korea haunts Asia-Europe meet

Asian and European foreign ministers meeting in Japan yesterday fretted about North Korea's nuclear threat, with Tokyo warning that time was running out for Pyongyang to return to talks on its atomic arms programmes.

Almost a year after the last round of six-country talks aimed at resolving the crisis over North Korea's nuclear programmes, worries about a nuclear test by the reclusive state are growing.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told counterparts from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Korea and China that patience was running thin.

"We can't wait forever. There needs to be a sense of urgency," a Japanese official quoted him as saying.

The United States has made clear it would consider taking the matter to the UN Security Council - a prelude to possible sanctions - if Pyongyang refused to resume the talks.

North Korea has said sanctions would be tantamount to a declaration of war.

Mr Machimura echoed the US view, saying other measures would need to be considered if there was no progress in negotiations.

"For example, we need to think about the Security Council as a next option," he told reporters after meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in the Japanese city of Kyoto.

Mr Ban, however, took a different tack. "The door to dialogue is not completely shut. Through China, the countries must continue to urge the North. When all this diplomatic effort is exhausted, let's look at what can be done," he was quoted as saying by Park Joon-Woo, a South Korean foreign ministry official.

Mr Ban and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing urged North Korea not to do anything to make itself more isolated.

"The ministers said any moves by North Korea that deteriorate the situation further would not help, it would only further isolate itself," Mr Park told reporters.

The New York Times reported yesterday that US officials were assessing satellite photographs that appeared to show extensive preparations for a nuclear weapons test.

North Korea announced in February it had nuclear weapons, and US officials have said they believe Pyongyang has already amassed enough fissile material to make six to eight bombs.

At a working dinner of Asian and European foreign ministers, participants urged North Korea to quickly return to talks, a Japanese official said. "On the North Korea issue, I think there was a strong message that the international community should deal with it in unison," the official told reporters.

Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency said North Korean officials had told visiting Russian legislators that the North would return to the talks if the United States showed good faith.

"But the United States continues to deny our system and maintains it would never coexist with us," KCNA quoted a North Korean official as saying, the South's Yonhap news agency reported.

"Under these conditions, we have not been able to take part in the six-party talks and we were made to decide to continue strengthening our nuclear arsenal," the official added.

Mr Machimura is likely to use his meeting with Mr Li today to urge Beijing - North Korea's main backer - to try harder to bring Pyongyang back to the talks.

The two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China last met to discuss the issue in June.

European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Reuters in an interview that the resumption of six-country talks was the best way to ease tensions.