'Millions could starve' in N Korea

Losyukov wants dialogue between the US and N Korea

A United Nations special envoy has warned that North Korea is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis and has called for tensions over the country's nuclear programme to be resolved.

There is a serious and ominous risk that this crisis could escalate.

Maurice Strong, UN envoy

Maurice Strong, speaking after three days of talks in Pyongyang, warned that the country was on the brink of mass starvation.

He said up to eight million people were 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.

Mr Strong was speaking as Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov arrived in North Korea to try to resolve the crisis over the country's alleged moves to develop nuclear weapons.

Mr Losyukov, who had earlier held talks with Chinese officials in Beijing, said his mission was aimed at getting the US and North Korea to negotiate.

"It is necessary to use strengths from all sides in order to help promote dialogue," he said.

Correspondents say that, although Russia is one of North Korea's few close allies, Mr Losyukov's visit is unlikely to lead to any rapid breakthrough.

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

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.

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.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said Washington is 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.

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.

Pyongyang dismissed the offer as a "deceptive drama".

Core problem

Mr Strong, who was sent by UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, told reporters: "There is a serious and ominous risk that this crisis could escalate.

"If it does, it would escalate, to my view, unnecessarily, because the positions of the parties as they have articulated them are actually quite close to each other."

The core problem was a breakdown of trust and communication with the United States, he said.