Roh's adviser gets foreign ministry's top position

Roh's adviser gets foreign ministry's top position

Agencies Seoul

South Korea's president named his adviser on foreign affairs as his new foreign minister on Friday, as talks on the North's nuclear crisis hung in limbo with Pyongyang saying every delay in restarting diplomatic negotiations gives its military more time to build a bigger and better atomic war chest.

Ban Ki-moon will replace Yoon Young-kwan, who quit his post on Thursday amid a rift between some foreign ministry officials and some members of the president's National Security Council over how to balance Seoul's relations between North Korea and its biggest ally, the United States.

"He is expected to work through pending issues based on the spirit of trust with our allies," the presidential Blue House said in a statement.

Ban is a 60-year-old career diplomat with a reputation as a moderate who understands the workings of the foreign ministry.

He was South Korea's vice foreign minister in 2000 and 2001 during former President Kim Dae-jung's administration.

While the resignation is unlikely to undermine South Korea's close ties with Washington, it is seen as bolstering the influence of presidential aides who preach greater independence from the United States.

Yoon's resignation came just a day after an American who recently visited North Korea said he was told that the communist government sees every delay in negotiations as a chance to strengthen its "nuclear deterrent."

Charles Pritchard, a former State Department official, met the North Koreans last week as part of a private visit that included a trip with American colleagues to the country's main nuclear site at Yongbyon.

Speaking on Thursday in Washington, Pritchard said he was told by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan: "Lapses of time will result in quantitative and qualitative increases in our nuclear deterrent.

"Time is not on the U.S. side," Kim reportedly said.

Pritchard, who had visited North Korea previously, said he found evidence of improved living conditions, including a sharp increase in vehicular traffic increased availability of electricity and consumer goods.

He debunked the notion among some that the country could collapse because of economic decline.

"Don't wait," he said. "It's not going to happen."

The United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas have been trying for months to restart another round of six- nation talks on persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. A first round ended in Beijing in August without much progress.

North Korea has insisted it needs nuclear weapons as a deterrent against a possible U.S. attack. But it says it will freeze its nuclear programs as a first step in talks if Washington lifts sanctions against the North, resumes oil shipments, and removes North Korea from the U.S. State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

The United States has responded that North Korea must first verifiably begin dismantling its nuclear programs before receiving any concessions.

Separately, Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov was in China on Friday to discuss the North Korean standoff, according to ITAR-TASS news agency.

He said Pyongyang's offer of a freeze could "provide a good basis for the continuation of the negotiating process," according to the report.

The nuclear dispute flared in October 2002 when U.S. officials accused North Korea of running a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 deal requiring the North to freeze its nuclear facilities. Washington and its allies have since cut off free oil shipments, also part of the 1994 accord.