N Korea wants direct talks but Washington snuffs out hopes of negotiation

North Korea said on Tuesday that direct talks with the US was the only way to resolve its nuclear crisis and dismissed worldwide condemnatio...

North Korea said on Tuesday that direct talks with the US was the only way to resolve its nuclear crisis and dismissed worldwide condemnation of its nuclear brinkmanship.

‘‘The nuclear issue is a bilateral issue that can only be peacefully resolved through negotiations between the principle parties,’’ the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a statement. ‘‘The United State’s attempts to internationalise our nuclear problem is merely an attempt to evade its responsibility,’’ the paper said.

But the Bush administration yesterday even downplayed comments by US Assistant Secretary James Kelly that the US

would consider offering energy aid to North Korea if it abandons its nuclear weapons development programmes.

The comments were widely interpreted as a new sign that the administration was willing to negotiate a settlement to the escalating crisis on the Korean peninsula. But White House and State Department spokesmen, Ari Fleischer, insisted that they did not represent a shift in the administration’s strategy of refusing to negotiate a deal with North Korea. He had remarked: ‘‘The ball remains in North Korea’s court. They know what they need to do (dismantle weapons programmes.