N. Korea Makes Friends, Shakes Fist

North Korea continued to show the world two faces Tuesday in the ongoing dispute over its alleged nuclear weapons programs.

Northern envoys hosted South Korean representatives for continued talks that suggested tensions were easing. A South Korean presidential envoy met on Tuesday with North Korea's No. 2 leader — a likely prelude to talks with communist leader Kim Jong Il, South Korean officials said.

But North Korea continued its rhetorical assault on the United States. In a dispatch Tuesday, KCNA, the North's official news agency, rejected as "cynical" Washington's offer of energy and food assistance if Pyongyang abandons its nuclear ambitions.

In a later statement, KCNA claimed that "the Pentagon is finalizing a plan to launch a military attack on North Korea," according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which monitored the Northern report.

"If we conclude that a pre-emptive attack from the United States is imminent, we will inevitably have to take corresponding measures in self-defense," it said, without elaborating.

The current dispute began in October when U.S. officials said North Korea had admitted having a nuclear program based on uranium enrichment in violation of a 1994 agreement with the United States. Washington suspended oil shipments to North Korea, which then moved to restart a padlocked plutonium plant, ousted U.N. nuclear inspectors and pulled out of a global nuclear arms control treaty.

North Korea claims the crisis was triggered by aggressive moves by the Bush administration. Upon taking office, President Bush suspended U.S. support for the South's "sunshine policy" of talking to the North. Then the president categorized the North in an "axis of evil" and articulated a new military strategy advocating preemptive strikes against perceived threats.

In addition, some say the United States never adhered to the 1994 deal, delaying the construction of nuclear reactors and failing to officially recognize the North.

Washington is pushing to shift discussion of the nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council, which could vote for sanctions against the North. Pyongyang, however, has said it would consider sanctions a declaration of war.

The United States is encouraging other countries to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear development. The European Union provisionally decided Monday to send a mediating mission to Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, the North-South contacts continued.

Lim Dong-won, an envoy of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, conferred with Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's parliament. In that post, Kim serves as the North's ceremonial head of state, or No. 2.

The 25-minute meeting at the Masudae Assembly Hall in the North's capital, Pyongyang, was seen as necessary protocol for the South Korean envoy before meeting Kim Jong Il. Also present was An Kyong Ho, the director of a Northern agency overseeing inter-Korean affairs.

A statement by the South Korean government said the talks were about "pending inter-Korean issues" but did not provide details. It said the discussions were conducted in "a serious atmosphere."

Authorities in Seoul said chances for a meeting with Kim Jong Il were high. Lim has met the reclusive leader three times in the past and was instrumental in setting up a North-South summit in June 2000.

South Korean officials attached great significance to the expected meeting with Kim Jong Il, whom they view as the only figure in the isolated communist state who can make any meaningful decision on the nuclear issue.

Still, there was no word of a meeting with Kim by nightfall.

Lim met Monday with Kim Yong Sun, a key aide to Kim Jong Il. The meeting was followed by a banquet that lasted nearly five hours into early Tuesday, South Korean officials in Seoul said.

Kim Jong Il did not attend the banquet, they said.