Alarm as North Korea raises nuclear stakes

Kim Jong-il's decision has profound implications

North Korea has unleashed a storm of international outrage with its announcement it is withdrawing from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

US President George W Bush called President Jiang Zemin of China - North Korea's closest ally - to discuss what he said was a "concern to the entire international community".

North Korea's neighbours have also expressed alarm at Pyongyang's decision to break its commitments not to spread nuclear technology.

Despite the dramatic announcement on Friday, Pyongyang has said it does not intend to produce nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear activities were confined to "peaceful purposes such as the production of electricity".

'Not over yet'

In his telephone conversation, President Bush "stressed that the United States has no hostile intentions toward North Korea, and sought a peaceful, multilateral solution to the problem created by Pyongyang's action," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

President Jiang "reiterated China's commitment to a non-nuclear Korean peninsula," the spokesman said.

Click here to see a map of nuclear sites

The United Nations nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), urged North Korea to seek a diplomatic solution, and not to go through with the treaty withdrawal.

REDUCING THE NUCLEAR THREAT

The NPT treaty was ratified in 1970

Russia, the US, Britain, France and China are designated "nuclear armed states"

There are 187 signatories

India, Pakistan and Israel have not signed treaty

Click here for an explanation of the treaty

"There's still an opportunity for diplomacy. It's not over until it's over," said spokesman Mark Gwozdecky.

The news is now expected to dominate talks between the head of the IAEA, Mohamed El Baradei, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice later on Friday.

Talks have also been going on between two North Korean diplomats and a former US ambassador, Bill Richardson, which the American envoy described as "cordial but candid".

The meeting is not officially sponsored by the Bush administration but has its support.

'Life and death'

South Korea has urged its northern neighbour to reverse the decision, saying the withdrawal was a "serious threat to peace".

The country's President Kim Dae-Jung, who has advocated engagement with the North, said that North Korea had at one step made a bad situation worse.

Mr Kim said that the nuclear issue was a "matter of life and death" and one that could only be resolved through dialogue.

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

26 Dec: UN says 1,000 fuel rods have been moved to the plant

31 Dec: UN nuclear inspectors leave North Korea

6 Jan: IAEA demands inspectors be readmitted and secret weapons programme halted

7 Jan: US "willing to talk" to North Korea

10 Jan: N Korea pulls out of nuclear treaty

Timeline of tensions

A joint statement from Japan and Russia, two crucial regional powers, also expressed "disappointment and profound concern" at North Korea's move.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi - on a visit to Moscow - said he would demand that North Korea reverse the decision.

Our correspondent in Tokyo says the withdrawal is seen as a serious escalation by diplomats there - one that could have a profound impact on security in the entire region.

He adds that it is expected that Tokyo will take a hard line if conciliation attempts do not work, perhaps introducing sanctions - a move described by North Korea as tantamount to a declaration of war.

The European Union has expressed "grave concern" urging the Stalinist state to reconsider the decision.

France, which holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, said the UN would need to address North Korea's withdrawal from the nuclear treaty.

And the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw "deplored" the decision, saying it would "only increase North Korea's isolation from the international community".

International concern over North Korea's intentions has been growing since it expelled two United Nations inspectors last month, and re-activated some of its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon.

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NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

Yongbyon: Five-megawatt experimental nuclear power reactor and a partially completed plutonium extraction facility. Activities at site frozen under 1994 Agreed Framework

Taechon: 200-MWt nuclear power reactor - construction halted under Agreed Framework

Pyongyang: Laboratory-scale "hot cells" that may have been used to extract small quantities of plutonium

Kumho: Two 1,000-MWt light water reactors being built under Agreed Framework

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