Russian envoy in N Korea peace drive

Losyukov wants dialogue between the US and N Korea

A senior Russian envoy has gone to North Korea to try to resolve the crisis over the country's alleged nuclear weapons programme.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov flew to the capital, Pyongyang, following talks with Chinese officials in Beijing.

We don't want to escalate any crisis

Colin Powell, US secretary of state

The latest round of diplomacy came as a United Nations envoy who flew from Pyongyang to Beijing on Saturday warned there was a "serious and ominous" risk that the crisis with North Korea could escalate.

As tensions simmered, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington was looking for a peaceful resolution to the situation.

"We don't want to escalate any crisis. We don't want war," Mr Powell told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, in an interview to be published on Saturday.

Relations between communist North Korea and the outside world deteriorated over three months ago after the US reported North Korea was developing nuclear weapons, a charge North Korea has denied.

Russian plan

Mr Losyukov said his mission was aimed at getting the US and North Korea to negotiate.

CRISIS CHRONOLOGY

16 Oct: N Korea acknowledges secret nuclear programme, US says

14 Nov: Oil shipments to N Korea halted

22 Dec: N Korea removes monitoring devices at Yongbyon nuclear plant

31 Dec: UN nuclear inspectors forced to leave North Korea

10 Jan: N Korea pulls out of anti-nuclear treaty

11 Jan: Pyongyang suggests it could resume ballistic missile tests

Timeline of tensions

"It is necessary to use strengths from all sides in order to help promote dialogue between the United States and North Korea," he said.

The deputy foreign minister will present Pyongyang with a so-called package plan aimed at keeping the peninsular nuclear-free, according to French news agency AFP.

It will also deal with reviving a 1994 deal under which the US and other countries agreed to supply North Korea with energy aid, the agency said.

Last week, President Bush offered to revive a "bold initiative" to provide North Korea with food and fuel aid if it abandoned its nuclear ambitions.

Correspondents say that although Russia is one North Korea's few close allies, Mr Losyukov's visit is unlikely to lead to a breakthrough in the standoff.

Talks urged

Russia, China and South Korea have urged the United States to open talks with North Korea.

The three-month stand-off remains tense

South Korea's President-elect Roh Moo-hyun said fears that North Korea could resort to using military force were unfounded.

"North Korea does not have the military capability to resolve any issue through its armed forces, and North Korea knows this fact very well," he told foreign business leaders.

"I think the problem can be resolved through dialogue because North Korea is sincere about its willingness to open up and reform. It has no other choice," he said.

Washington has said it will only talk to North Korea about dismantling its alleged weapons programme.

Pyongyang wants discussions to cover a wider agenda, including economic aid and a non-aggression pact with the United States.

Starvation warning

A UN envoy who left North Korea on Saturday has warned that the country is on the brink of mass starvation.

Maurice Strong, who was sent by UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, said up to eight million people are in a "life or death" situation.

"You cannot make the children, the ill people, the old people victims of a political crisis with which they have had nothing to do," he said.

Last year, the UN World Food Programme was forced to cut off aid to half of the six million people it was feeding in North Korea because of a decline in donations.