WASHINGTON, December 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States does not plan to strike North Korea, in spite of escalating tensions over its decision to activate its nuclear facilities, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday, December 29.

“We don’t see it as anything we have to look at right now,” Powell said on Fox News Sunday.

U.S. President George W. Bush, however, “always has every option,” he added.

North Korea’s drive to activate nuclear facilities that could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium has sparked anxiety and condemnation from the international community.

Tensions have risen since North Korea ordered International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to leave the nuclear complex in Yongbyon by Tuesday, December 31.

“I don’t know if this is brinkmanship or whether or not they're serious, but we're taking it seriously,” Powell said.

He added that Washington does not feel the situation “rises to a crisis atmosphere” but noted that Washington “can’t appease” Pyongyang.

“The wrong lessons will be drawn from us stepping forward and saying, ‘We are so concerned and afraid of this that we will do whatever it takes, whatever you ask us.’”

North Korea said on December 12 it is restarting a five-megawatt facility at Yongbyon because it needs electricity after the United States cut off fuel shipments last month.

But the IAEA accuses North Korea of moving fresh nuclear fuel rods to the research reactor, which is said to be capable of producing plutonium.

Powell said the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian affairs, James Kelly, will visit South Korea “within the next week or two, to consult with our friends and allies” on the mounting nuclear showdown with North Korea.

“We believe it’s very important that, with this serious situation we are facing, we stay in close touch with our friends and allies.”

Kelly will be the first top U.S. official to visit Seoul since the North started moves to reactivate the nuclear reactor.

Powell said he was “very pleased that the entire international community has come together on this issue, to say to North Korea, ‘You’re moving in the wrong direction. This is not the right thing to do.’”

Iraq Stand-off Can Not Go On Indefinitely

Powell also warned Sunday that the standoff with Iraq can not “go on indefinitely,” heightening warnings as the U.S. administration pursues a military buildup in the Gulf.

Powell said Bush still has not made a decision on military action or whether to go back to the United Nations Security Council to increase pressure on Iraq, AFP reported.

“I think that this can’t go on indefinitely,” Powell told NBC’s Meet the Press, adding that the United States would wait to get additional reports from U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix before taking any decisions.

“It’s a situation we are monitoring closely,” he said.

Powell insisted Bush wanted a peaceful solution but that U.S. troops were prepared to take action against Baghdad.

“We are taking prudent actions, positioning our forces so that they will be ready to do whatever might be required,” he said on Fox News Sunday.

The U.S. military has been deploying troops, aircraft, tanks, other heavy equipment and supplies in the Gulf for months in anticipation of military action against Iraq.

There are about 65,000 troops in the Gulf and Turkey, according to the U.S. Defense Department, and about 50,000 more are due to be in the region by early January.