N. Korea Defiant Amid U.S. Pressure

North Korea said Sunday it hopes to settle a rising nuclear dispute in a "peaceful way" but vowed that it would not cave into U.S. pressure.

Defying international opinion, the isolated communist nation has been moving to reactivate operations at a nuclear complex that experts say could produce weapons within months. U.S. officials said Saturday that Washington would enlist its Asian allies and the United Nations to intensify economic pressure on Pyongyang unless it abandons nuclear development.

"It is the consistent stand of the (North Korean) government to settle the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful way," said a commentary in Rodong Sinmun newspaper, carried by North Korea's foreign news agency.

But the newspaper also blamed the United States for escalating tensions and vowed not to give in to pressure.

"Inevitable is the confrontation with the imperialists as long as they do not abandon the aggressive and predatory nature," the newspaper said, adding that concessions would bring "humiliation, death, subordination and slavery."

On Sunday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States is "looking for ways to communicate with the North Koreans" to ease the nuclear crisis, but will do nothing to help Pyongyang unless it changes its behavior.

"We have channels open," Powell said in a broadcast interview. "We have ways of communicating with North Korea. They know how to contact us."

Powell, making the rounds of Sunday talk shows, seemed to present a subtle change in the administration's tone by holding out the prospect for talks and stressing that military action is not being contemplated. President Bush has prohibited negotiations with Kim Jong Il's government while North Korea's nuclear program is active — a policy that White House officials said Sunday had not changed.

"We cannot suddenly say, 'Gee we're so scared. Let's have a negotiation because we want to appease your misbehavior.' This kind of action cannot be rewarded," Powell said. "We are looking for ways to communicate with the North Koreans so some sense can prevail."

A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Powell was referring to diplomatic channels open to North Korea, including the South and the United Nations. He said Bush policy is firm: There will be no negotiations or talks unless North Korea "changes its behavior," a phrase that is open to some interpretation.

It was unclear whether Powell was making a diplomatic distinction between "talks" and "negotiations." He announced that Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly will go to South Korea next month to talk to U.S. allies — but not North Korea "at this time."

North Korea has said it would address U.S. concerns about its nuclear program if Washington signs a nonaggression pact. But the Bush administration has ruled out such talks unless Pyongyang first gives up its nuclear ambitions.

The Bush administration is ready to dramatically intensify economic pressure on Pyongyang through Asian allies and the United Nations, unless North Korea stops its nuclear program.

"This is a country that's in desperate condition," Powell said. "What are they going to do with another two or three more nuclear weapons when they're starving, when they have no energy, when they have no economy that's functioning?"

Powell said the United States has no plans to attack North Korea.

On Friday, North Korea ratcheted up tensions ordering out U.N. inspectors monitoring its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, and the government announced it would restart a radiochemical laboratory at the complex that could be used to extract weapons-grade plutonium.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the next day that the experts will leave by Tuesday. The Vienna-based U.N. agency has warned that their expulsion would take away its only means of ensuring North Korea is not developing nuclear weapons.

Experts say 8,000 spent fuel rods now in storage could be reprocessed within months to extract enough plutonium for several bombs.

The IAEA's board of governors plans to meet on Jan. 6 in Vienna and consider referring the matter to the U.N. Security Council if North Korea does not reverse its course by then.

Fearing a nuclear crisis, South Korea has said it will appeal to China and Russia to dissuade their longtime ally North Korea from reviving its nuclear program.

"We will ask China and Russia to persuade North Korea not to aggravate the situation anymore and restore everything to its original state," a Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Tae-sik plans to visit Beijing on Jan. 2, he said. Seoul has yet to decide when to send an envoy to Moscow.

Operations at the Yongbyon complex were frozen under a 1994 agreement with Washington that U.S. officials say may have averted war.

North Korea said on Dec. 12 that it was putting the program back on line to generate badly needed energy because Washington and its allies halted delivery of heavy oil promised under the 1994 deal. The embargo was put in place after North Korea admitted in October to covertly developing nuclear weapons using enriched uranium, in violation of the agreement.

Steps by North Korea to revive the Yongbyon complex triggered international condemnation and set off a flurry of diplomatic activity by Washington and Seoul, which say they are seeking a peaceful resolution of the crisis.