WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned her Chinese counterpart Friday over the North Korean nuclear crisis as Washington pondered a Japanese plan for talks among five nations involved in stalled dialogue with Pyongyang.
The State Department said Rice spoke to Li Zhaoxing on how to "deal seriously" with moves to end North Korea's nuclear weapons drive.
"The secretary talked to the Chinese foreign minister this morning as part of our continuing cooperation that you've seen between the US and China on North Korea," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
He added that Rice discussed "how to continue to encourage North Korea to come back to the talks and deal seriously with these issues."
The conversation took place after China rebuffed US demands to take tough action on North Korea and instead called for positive signals in order to restart talks on the hardline communist state's nuclear ambitions.
Citing US hostility, North Korea had refused to take part in a fourth round of the six-party talks scheduled in September 2004 after three inclusive rounds on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program.
The last round of talks, which also involve China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, were held in June 2004.
Following the persistent deadlock, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Friday the UN Security Council or the five nations involved in the stalled dialogue should meet to pressure Pyongyang.
North Korea, which had been boasting about its nuclear arms programs, this week said it had unloaded 8,000 spent fuel rods in a step to building more nuclear weapons amid reports it was preparing to conduct a nuclear test.
Boucher, reacting to the Japanese proposal for five-party talks, said: "I think we'll have to see."
"Obviously, as North Korea continues to stay away from the talks, people are looking at what the other steps are that we can take," he said.
He added that Washington was coordinating with allies about these steps that might have to be taken "in order to lower the risks of what's going on on the peninsula."
North Korea should return to the six-party talks "and to come back serious to deal with the issues and to eliminate their nuclear weapons programs," he said.
05/13/2005 20:56 GMT