N Korea nuclear threat 'serious'

Mohamed ElBaradei has spent nearly 20 years at the IAEA

North Korea poses the "most immediate and most serious threat" to efforts to control the world's nuclear weapons, the UN's atomic watchdog has warned.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he was concerned about reports that Pyongyang is processing fuel rods that used to be under his agency's safeguards.

Mr ElBaradei's remarks follow North Korea's claim last week that it has produced enough plutonium to start making nuclear bombs.

At the same time, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo held talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vice-President Dick Cheney, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

Mr Dai briefed the Americans on meetings he had earlier in the week with North Korean leaders.

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After the Washington talks, he said China and the US had agreed "to work together to push for the process to solve the (North Korean) problem through dialogue".

China is suggesting another round of three-way direct talks Beijing, Washington and Pyongyang - while the US wants its East Asian allies, South Korea and Japan, to be involved too.

North Korea has been insisting on bilateral talks with the United States, but did agree to recent three-way talks in Beijing.

'No headway'

Earlier US officials said they did not know whether North Korean representatives were bluffing or telling the truth when they said they had finished extracting plutonium - a key ingredient for nuclear weapons - from 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods.

"In my view, the situation in the DPRK (North Korea) is currently the most immediate and most serious threat to the nuclear non-proliferation regime," Mr ElBaradei said.

It was regrettable that little progress on the issue appears to have been made since December when the IAEA was prevented from monitoring the North's nuclear programme, he added.

"I earnestly hope that the international community will urgently focus its efforts on bringing the DPRK back to the non-proliferation regime."

Mr ElBaradei said he was encouraged by China's efforts to restart dialogue towards persuading Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programme.