Washington dangles energy aid carrot now

‘‘We are of course willing to talk,’’ he said. ‘‘Once we get beyond nuclear weapons, there may be opportunities with the US, with private investors, with other countries to help North Korea in the energy area.’’ He was addressing a news conference after his talks with President-elect Roh Moo-Hyun.

Kelly called the hardline anti-US rhetoric and threats to restart missile tests ‘‘a little mystifying’’ and repeated US statements that Pyongyang’s diplomats covered no new ground in weekend talks in New Mexico with the former US ambassador to the UN, Bill Richardson.

On Sunday, Richardson urged the Bush administration to open talks with Pyongyang to defuse the nuclear crisis. ‘‘What I think the administration needs to do, with all due respect, is just pick up the phone,’’ Richardson said on ABC’s This Week.

Roh explained to Kelly that his incoming government would not accept a nuclear N Korea and wanted to play a leading role in crafting a peaceful solution to the crisis, his aides said. Roh, who takes office on February 25, underscored his support for the bilateral military alliance with the US.

Pyongyang denied on Sunday that it ever told US officials it was conducting a secret nuclear programme. In October, US officials had announced that N Korea had acknowledged carrying on the secret programme based on highly enriched uranium. When the US cut off energy aid in response, N Korea moved to restart a nuclear reactor that can produce weapons-grade plutonium, setting off a confrontation that has escalated dramatically.

But the Pyongyang regime said on Sunday, through its official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, that the US claim that North Korea admitted to the secret programme ‘‘is an invention fabricated by the US with sinister intentions’’. (Reuters)