South Korea snubbed by northern neighbour

A South Korean envoy has returned from North Korea without holding expected nuclear crisis talks with communist leader Kim Jong Il.

Presidential envoy Lim Dong Won waited until the early hours of yesterday in Pyongyang for a meeting with Kim, but the reclusive leader did not appear.

South Korea had hoped the unusual visit would open the way for a resolution of the three-month-old crisis, but Kim's snub of the envoy underscored the North's insistence that it will talk only to the United States.

US President George W. Bush used his State of the Union speech yesterday year to accuse North Korea of deceit and blackmail, but he said Washington would work with its allies for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

He warned Pyongyang that "nuclear weapons will bring only isolation, economic stagnation, and continued hardship".