SEOUL, January 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - North Korea believes the United States has made no fundamental change in its hard-line stance towards it and will push for a climbdown from Washington before agreeing to ease the nuclear crisis, officials said Thursday, January 16.

North Korea late Wednesday, January 15, dismissed an offer of “talks” from Washington to end the standoff as a publicity stunt, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

North Korea has said it wants unconditional talks while Washington says Pyongyang must first dismantle its nuclear weapons programs.

An unidentified North Korean foreign ministry official told the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that “the rumor about dialogue with the DPRK (North Korea) spread by the United States recently (was) a bid to mislead the public opinion.”

“Some high-ranking officials of the U.S. were reported to have said that the U.S. has willingness to have dialogue with the DPRK and discuss the matters of energy and food aid if the latter scraps its ‘nuclear weapon development program’,” the North Korean foreign ministry official said.

“In this regard, some of the world community have shown impromptu views that the U.S. made a switchover in its position from its stand of denying dialogue and compensation to that of expressing its willingness to do so.

“But, in essence, there is no change in the U.S. conditional stand that it would have dialogue with the DPRK only after it scraps its ‘nuclear program’. It is clear that the U.S. talk about dialogue is nothing but a deceptive drama to mislead the world public opinion.”

Bush’s U-turn
U.S. President George W. Bush had earlier hinted that aid to the famine-hit Stalinist country could be forthcoming if it agreed to publicly renounce its nuclear ambitions.

The promise is a u-turn in the Bush administration’s hard-line approach which had ruled out any negotiations to reward Pyongyang’s “nuclear blackmail”, the British daily the Guardian said.

The abrupt change in policy arrives at a time when conservative commentators in Washington had condemned the administration's approach as ill-conceived, it added.

Bush’s u-turn came as he fears that the deepening crisis in Asia would complicate Washington's objective of an early war against Iraq, the paper said.

Bush’s administration insists to attack Iraq for its alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction regardless of the fact that, unlike North Korea, there is no evidence whatsoever supporting these allegations.

Pushing A Little Harder on Washington

“Basically they say they don’t see any change in U.S. policy,” said Kim Jong-Ro, spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry that handles relations with North Korea.

“It seems that North Korea has not changed its position either but they are now pushing a little harder on Washington.

“However, the rhetoric is not that harsh and they are still talking about resolving the crisis through dialogue.”

Washington said last week that it was willing to hold talks but it was not prepared to “negotiate” with Pyongyang, wary of being seen to reward what they call “nuclear blackmail”.

Pyongyang responded by making a serious effort to talk with Washington last Thursday - the day before its decision to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) - only to be rebuffed, the official said.

“However, what we heard from the U.S. side was simple words that the U.S. had nothing to say about the resumption of dialogue,” the official added.

The White House described the latest comments from Pyongyang as “unfortunate” as it continued to seek international backing, including help from China, where top U.S. envoy on North Korea James Kelly was meeting senior officials before departing Thursday for Singapore on the third leg of a five-nation Asian tour.

For its part, Russia - North Korea’s other major ally - was sending Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov to Beijing on Thursday before flying on to Pyongyang.

He will remain in North Korea until January 21 before returning to the Chinese capital for a day of further talks, ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Russian diplomatic sources as saying.

Russia and China are considered North Korea’s closest allies and may have some influence over Pyongyang’s decisions.

Pyongyang has maintained a willingness to negotiate, the Guardian said, adding that it welcomed on Wednesday, January 16, a delegation of Australian diplomats to discuss the standoff and a U.N. ambassador to review the impact of the U.S. and Japan halting food aid.

But it also issued a warning that it was prepared for a further escalation. “If the U.S. responds to the DPRK’s recent exercise of its option with new sanctions, it will exercise the second and third corresponding options,” commented the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s leading state newspaper.

Meanwhile, South Korea was preparing to host cabinet level talks with North Korea in Seoul next week, the first such meeting since North Korea declared it will revive its nuclear plant capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium in response to the U.S. cut of fuel oil shipments move.

Since then North Korea has expelled U.N. monitors and withdrawn from the NPT while saying it was reactivating its Yongbyon nuclear plant, frozen under a now defunct 1994 U.S.-North Korea accord.

No Easy Way Out

Only lengthy diplomacy will solve the North Korean nuclear crisis, a U.S. envoy warned Thursday.

James Kelly, Washington’s senior diplomat for Asia, said after “very good meetings” with Chinese officials that there was no easy solution to North Korea's plan to reactivate its nuclear program.

“The Korean peninsula needs to be free of nuclear weapons. This is something that China, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the whole international community agree on,” he said before flying to Singapore, wrapping up a crucial phase of his five-nation Asian tour aimed at resolving the crisis.

“This is a long process to make sure we achieve this the right way.”