'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.