'U.S. won't attack N. Korea after Iraq'

'U.S. won't attack N. Korea after Iraq'

Agencies, Seoul/Tokyo

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun sought to calm fears on
Monday that the communist North might be the next U.S. war target
after Iraq, dismissing what he called "inaccurate and groundless"
speculation.

North Korea has warned that war over its suspected nuclear
ambitions is imminent and some South Korean media have stirred
the pot with speculative reports that have been promptly denied
by Roh's month-old government.

A survey of 2,154 South Koreans by FN Research showed 48.8
percent saw a "somewhat high" chance of armed conflict between
North Korea and the United States, while 7.5 percent said the
possibility was very high.

"The president expressed concern about inaccurate and
groundless speculation that the United States could strike North
Korea once the war in Iraq ends," chief presidential spokeswoman
Song Kyung-hee told a media conference.

Song quoted Roh as telling presidential secretaries: "In every
meeting that I have had with responsible U.S. officials, they
told me 'Iraq is a different case from North Korea and we want a
peaceful resolution of the problem'".

North Korea postponed working-level economic talks with the
South on Saturday in a move triggered by reports that Seoul had
raised the alert status of its military after U.S.-led forces
launched military strikes against Iraq.

Spokeswoman Song came under fire over the weekend for a
statement last week that South Korea had raised its defense
readiness one notch to "Watchcon 2" after the Iraq war started.

Roh's national security adviser, Ra Jong-yil, was quoted by
Yonhap news agency on Monday as saying he sent a message to North
Korea explaining the spokeswoman's error.

The Korean crisis erupted in October when the United States
said North Korea had admitted to reviving a uranium enrichment
program capable of producing material for nuclear arms.

The nuclear program was frozen under a bilateral U.S.-North
Korean deal in 1994 and Washington says Pyongyang's violation of
that pact several years later is the reason multilateral
diplomacy is needed to halt the North's nuclear bid this time.

On Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan
will travel to Washington to meet U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell and other officials to discuss the nuclear impasse as well
as Roh's expected visit to the United States in May.

In a related development, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard
Baker told Taku Yamasaki, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP), and leaders from the party's two ruling
coalition partners on Monday that Washington would notify Tokyo
if there were clear signs Pyongyang is about to test a missile, a
secretary from Yamasaki's office said on condition of anonymity.

Although U.S. officials say there is no indication of an
imminent launch, the information comes amid concerns North Korea
may test-fire one of its ballistic missiles to coincide with
Tokyo's scheduled launch Friday of two spy satellites.

North Korea reportedly test-fired two short-range missiles in
late February and early March amid tensions over its suspected
nuclear weapons programs. Washington and South Korea called those
tests attempts to force the United States into direct talks.

The isolated communist country last tested a ballistic missile
in 1998, when it launched a Taepodong over Japan and into the
Pacific Ocean. The launch proved that virtually all of Japan is
within range of the North's missiles.

Pyongyang has had a moratorium on long-range missile tests
since 1999 and last year promised Japan it would extend the ban
beyond 2003.

Last week, however, North Korea said Japan's planned launching
of spy satellites would violate the spirit of the Pyongyang
Declaration last year. It warned the launch of Japan's first spy
satellites might void the document.

And as Washington and its allies suspended oil shipments to
the North, Pyongyang retaliated by taking steps to reactivate a
nuclear facility capable of producing several bombs and withdrew
from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.