North Korea Refuses to Discuss Weapons With South

North Korea today told South Korea not to meddle in a standoff over the North's suspected nuclear weapons programme, insisting it would only discuss the issue with the US.

In the second of three days of cabinet-level talks in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, South Korean delegates again demanded that the North abandon any nuclear weapons development.

They cited a 1992 inter-Korean agreement to keep the peninsula nuclear-free. Northern negotiators stonewalled the nuclear discussion.

"The Northern side reiterated that the nuclear issue is a matter between the North and the United States," said a statement from the South Korean government. "But they said they wanted to resolve the matter peacefully."

Seoul officials said North Korean delegates have not confirmed a US claim that during talks in Beijing last week they told an American envoy that they may test, sell or use atomic weapons, depending on Washington's actions.

Instead, they reiterated that the North made a "new, bold" proposal to the US during the Beijing talks, but did not elaborate, South Korean spokesman Shin Eun-sang said.

US officials did not reveal the North's proposal, but South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, quoting unidentified diplomatic sources, reported today that North Korea proposed to give up its nuclear programs in return for a nonaggression treaty and normalisation of "political and economic relations" with the US. The administration of US president George Bush has ruled out such a treaty, but US officials have said some form of written security guarantee could be possible. North Korea says it fears being invaded by the US following the Iraq war.

The South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, said today that when he meets Mr Bush in Washington on May 15, they will discuss cooperating "to find a complete and peaceful solution to the nuclear issue", Mr Roh's office said in a statement.

During yesterday's talks, North Korea called for "united efforts of all the Koreans" to "reject the unilateral strong-arm action of foreign forces ... and prevent the danger of war," said the North's official news agency, KCNA.

Such remarks reflect the North's long-standing policy of driving a wedge between the South and its main ally, the US.

The North tried to shift the focus of the talks to linking cross-border railways and other economic projects with South Korea that are part of a reconciliation process that grew out of a historic North-South summit in June 2000.

During a visit yesterday to an unidentified "front-line unit," North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was satisfied that his soldiers were ready to repulse "any surprise attack of the enemy at one stroke", and gave "guidelines in further increasing the unit's combat capability", KCNA said. It said North Korean soldiers were determined to "become human bombs in safeguarding the headquarters of the revolution and wipe out any invaders".

Washington believes North Korea has one or two atomic bombs and may be trying to make more. North Korea has indicated that it would never abandon its nuclear programmes unless Washington signs a nonaggression treaty.

During the Beijing talks, US officials said North Korea also claimed that it had reprocessed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods - a key step in producing nuclear weapons that could yield several more bombs within months. Some speculate that Pyongyang may be bluffing.

Last week's talks in Beijing were the first high-level US-North Korean contact since nuclear tensions peaked in October, when Washington accused Pyongyang of having a secret nuclear programme in violation of a 1994 pact.