Powell urges North Korea to resume nuclear talks

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Secretary of State Colin Powell urged North Korea on Tuesday to rejoin nuclear disarmament talks if it wants international aid, while South Korea went on high alert after holes cut in a border fence raised fears of infiltration by the North's agents.

South Korea, meanwhile, called on Washington and other participants in six-nation talks to show more flexibility in resolving the nuclear standoff - comments that appeared to distance Seoul from U.S. proposals.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon urged "all participating countries in the six-nation talks to make more creative and realistic proposals to help bring North Korea to the talks as soon as possible."

Powell said Washington has no intention of changing its North Korea policy soon, but would work to resolve the nuclear dispute.

"We agreed to continue devoting maximum efforts to achieving this goal through multilateral diplomacy and six-party talks," Powell said in a joint news conference with the South Korean foreign minister.

"Clearly, everybody wants to see the next round of six-party talks get started," Powell said, referring to the stalled talks among the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia. "This is the time to move forward, to bring this matter to a conclusion."

He said the goal was to help the people of impoverished North Korea have a better life, in part by providing more food aid.

"We don't intend to attack North Korea, we don't have any hostile intent notwithstanding their claims," he said. "It is this nuclear issue that is keeping the international community from assisting North Korea."

U.S. officials believe North Korea is biding its time on six-party talks, sensing that Democratic candidate John Kerry might win the election and be easier to deal with than Bush.

Powell, who was in Seoul following visits this week to Japan and China, also met Tuesday with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and South Korea's unification minister.

Powell predicted that North Korea will return to the talks after next week's U.S. election, South Korean officials said.

Meanwhile, South Korea's military tightened roadblocks and traffic checks north of Seoul after finding signs of possible infiltration by North Korean agents.

Border guards found a hole in the wire fence that forms the Southern boundary of the 2 1/2-mile wide Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas, said Brig. Gen. Hwang Joong-sun, an operational officer at the South Korean military's Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The 16-inch by 12-inch hole, which was cut through two layers of wire fence yards apart, was discovered early Tuesday near Yeoncheon, a border town 40 miles north of Seoul.

Hours later, the military reported another hole in the fence 0.7-mile from the first hole. South Korean soldiers walk along the fence daily to check for signs of infiltration.

South Korea imposed the highest level of vigilance the military can issue before an actual sighting of a communist infiltrator, said a ministry spokesman, who also refused to be named. It reportedly requires military units to move troops for patrol and combat readiness.

On the roads between Yeoncheon and Seoul, soldiers and armored vehicles joined police at check points.

Three rounds of six-party talks, held in Beijing, have yielded little progress. North Korea skipped a fourth round that was to have taken place in September, and lashed out Tuesday at Washington.

"It is impossible to open the talks now that the U.S. is becoming evermore undisguised in its hostile policy toward the (North)," said North Korea's official news agency, KCNA.

"The Bush administration is employing a sleight of hand to mislead the public opinion at home and abroad and garner support from more electors," it said.

North Korea reiterated that it would rejoin the six-nation talks only if Washington is ready to roll back its hostile policy, and offer a "reward" for freezing its nuclear development.

The United States is seeking the permanent denuclearization of North Korea and has said it will provide the communist government with economic benefits only after it offers a credible commitment to meet U.S. disarmament demands.

Powell rejected the North's demand that Washington change its proposals.

"We modified (our proposal) for the third round of six party talks, showed flexibility and tried to accommodate the interests of other parties," he said. "The way to move forward is to have the next round of six party talks, so that we can discuss that proposal and not have a negotiation with ourselves in a press conference."