North Korea nuclear talks still on

BEIJING - North Korea's refusal to take part in working-level talks on the nuclear crisis has prompted a diplomatic flurry with China, the host of the talks, at the heart of efforts to keep the process on track.

Beijing said on Tuesday that no date has been set for the talks on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programmes but gave no indication that the meeting had been cancelled, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told a news conference.

In a sign that China was fully engaged in trying to set up another round of talks, top Chinese diplomat Shen Guofang met in Beijing on Monday with Ri Gun, North Korea's chief delegate to the working-level talks.

On Monday North Korea had ruled out attending the working-level talks and questioned the entire negotiating process, blaming hostile US policy for its tougher stance.

"The message I had from the Chinese was that ... no scheduled time has been determined for that meeting, not that the meeting has been cancelled," Downer said.

The Australian minister later began a visit to North Korea, the official KCNA news agency reported.

Before leaving Beijing, Downer had said he would use the opportunity of his rare talks in Pyongyang to try to convince the isolated communist state of the advantages to be gained by abandoning its nuclear programmes.

"We hope to be able to assist in moving the process towards a successful conclusion," he said.

The working-level talks have been expected in advance of the next round of six-party talks involving North and South Korea, the United States, Russia, China and Japan and set for late September. However, a date has yet to be decided.

"I think North Korea will not withdraw from the six-party talks process in the current situation," Ning Fukui, China's top envoy on North Korean nuclear issues, told reporters.

"There are still some difficulties," Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told reporters. "But I believe our work ... will continue to overcome the problems."

Pyongyang has in the past raised the rhetorical volume before talks or before making a concession. The North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday did not explicitly rule out attending the next full talks due in September.

US and South Korean officials attributed these comments to pre-talk bluster and said they hoped discussions would go ahead as planned.

Officials said working-level talks could be held immediately preceding the full talks, as they were before the last round.

A MARATHON PROCESS

During the third round of talks, in June, analysts said a door creaked with the first sign of real negotiations after the US side offered aid from other countries in return for North Korea agreeing to dismantle its nuclear programmes.

However, China's Ning indicated that Pyongyang was seeking direct US help and that this was a stumbling block that Washington must address.

Negotiators had sought to hold the talks last week. When they failed to take place, diplomats suggested North Korea could be seeking to drag out the process as the US presidential election in November approaches.

Beijing has played host to three rounds of talks.

Yang Xiyu, one of the Foreign Ministry's top pointmen on North Korea, said China did not possess the key to the deadlock.

"This is our difficulty. We can only play a mediating role of promoting peace and talks. Our goal is to let the United States and North Korea hand over the keys to unlock this problem," he told U.S.-based Chinese portal Duo Wei www.chinesemedianet.com.

The crisis over North Korea's nuclear programmes erupted in October 2002 when US officials said North Korea had admitted to working on a secret programme to enrich uranium for weapons. North Korea denies having such a programme.

"North Korea won't want to be blamed for the total collapse of the talks," said Gao Heng, a senior research fellow at the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think-tank in Beijing, adding that he expected working-level but not full talks.

"The six-party talks are a marathon," he told Reuters. "The talks will be delayed, but won't collapse."

- REUTERS