- (AFP) -- A top United Nations envoy returned from North
Korea and said it was possible the United States and the Stalinist nation
could go to war although Pyongyang was keen to avoid conflict.
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- Maurice Strong, special envoy of UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan, told reporters on arrival in Beijing: "There is no need
for war and yet war could occur if the parties concerned cannot find a
way of resolving the differences across the table diplomatically."
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- He noted though that North Korea and the United States
wanted to avoid war.
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- "I know that they do wish to do this. It is simply
the method of doing it that now divides them," Strong said at the
Beijing airport upon returning from a four-day mission to North Korea.
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- Prior to leaving Pyongyang Saturday, he told China's
Xinhua news agency that North Korea wants "very much" a peaceful
solution to its stand-off with the United States focused on its nuclear
programme.
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- "The message I get is that the DPRK (North Korea)
wants very much a peaceful resolution, but at the same time, it must remain
(maintain) its sovereignty," Strong was quoted by Xinhua saying.
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- North Korea wants direct talks with Washington to end
the stand-off, demanding a non-aggression pact as a precondition. Washington
rules out one-one-one talks until North Korea dismantles its nuclear programmes.
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- Strong told reporters Sunday he sensed concern from Pyongyang
that North Korea could be the next target of US military action given the
start of the US-led war in Iraq, but that there was a "very strong
commitment" on Pyongyang's part to seek a peaceful solution.
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- "Fear I do not believe is in their vocabulary. Concern,
yes. Real determination to seek a peaceful settlement at the same time
preparation for war if necessary," Strong said.
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- He said there was no visible evidence of preparations
for war or a heightened sense of tension in North Korea.
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- However he had noted among attitudes in the country a
"high degree of preparedness" for any war and "a deep concern"
for the perceived threat to North Korean's security and a determination
to defend their security.
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- "But at the same time they have a very strong commitment
to finding a pathway to a peaceful resolution," Strong said.
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- He said North Korea could take more actions deemed provocative
by the international community, but which Pyongyang would consider "logical"
in light of its security concerns and a sign of its determination to defend
themselves.
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- North Korea launched a short-range anti-ship missile
into the Sea of Japan on February 24 and again on March 10, sparking fears
especially in Japan that it preparing to test a ballistic missile.
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- "It should not be surprising if they continue these
actions which are often interpreted as provocative and do indeed have a
provocative element, but the purposes as they describe them are simply
to continue their process of preparation for conflict should conflict arise,"
Strong said.
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- He told Xinhua the Iraq war gave "new impetus"
to the need to resolve the North Korea crisis peacefully.
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- He urged Washington and Pyongyang to hold talks as soon
as possible.
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- "I can only say that the longer the delay, the greater
the risk of escalation, the greater the risk of deepening the differences
and the hostility and the hardening of attitudes," Strong said.
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- The visit was Strong's second since the crisis between
North Korea and the United States erupted in October.
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- North Korea has ramped up pressure on Washington to return
to talks by expelling UN inspectors, firing up a mothballed nuclear reactor,
withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and test-launching the missiles.
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- North Korea on Friday accused the United States of massing
military forces on its border to launch a preemptive strike on its nuclear
facilities to coincide with the war on Iraq.
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