Powell to press Seoul on N Korea

China was being told to pull its weight

US Secretary of State Colin Powell is in South Korea on the last leg of an Asian trip designed to revive talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons plans.

Mr Powell arrived in Seoul from China, where Beijing agreed to put pressure on Pyongyang to get talks re-started.

The Chinese Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing, said after their meeting that he wished the US side would adopt a more flexible attitude on the issue.

North Korea is boycotting talks with its neighbours and the US on the issue.

South Korea has a policy of engagement with the North, and correspondents say Seoul is wary of the more confrontational approach of the US.

Mr Powell will also be discussing US plans to reduce troops in military bases in South Korea, according to state department officials.

'Outstanding issues'

Mr Powell has called for an urgent resolution to the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons plans.

SIX PARTIES TO KOREA TALKS China Japan North Korea Russia South Korea United States

"China has considerable influence with North Korea," he said in Beijing.

"I hope that as a result of our conversations, both of us will energise the other members of the six-party framework to resolve the outstanding issues that keep us from setting a date for a meeting."

Mr Li said China would make efforts to persuade all parties to join a new round as soon as possible.

"We wish the US side would go further to adopt a flexible and practical attitude on the issue," he added.

Japan has promised to lobby Pyongyang

There have been three rounds of six-party talks, aimed at pressuring Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons programme, but North Korea refused to attend a fourth in September.

The communist state sees no point in talking before the US presidential election on 2 November, says the BBC's Charles Scanlon in Seoul. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has criticised the current administration for failing to stop North Korea's programmes.

Experts believe North Korea has already extracted enough plutonium for six or seven atomic bombs, although this is difficult to verify as Pyongyang will not submit to inspections from the UN's nuclear agency.

Tension over Taiwan

After his talks in Beijing, Mr Powell said he hoped the US and China would soon re-start their dialogue on human rights.

But China rebuffed suggestions by Mr Powell that it consider accepting Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's offer of talks to reduce cross-strait tension.

China has been angry about US arms sales and about Washington's positive response to a recent call by Mr Chen for talks with Beijing.

In his meeting with Mr Powell, Chinese President Hu Jintao said "the current situation across the Taiwan Straits is still very complicated and sensitive," the Xinhua news agency reported.