SEOUL, Jan 24: South Korean leaders launched a new diplomatic drive with North Korea on Friday that raised hopes of a breakthrough in the nuclear crisis, as Russia pushed for more time for the standoff to be resolved through dialogue.

The developments came just hours after Pyongyang state promised to work towards ending the four-month stand-off peacefully, although it flatly rejected demands by South Korea to abandon its nuclear program.

And in a sobering statement amid the rare positive developments, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov warned the crisis could lead to war if North Korea did not achieve its goal of holding direct negotiations with the United States.

“You cannot rule out the situation degenerating into a military conflict,” Losyukov, who held a surpise six-hour meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang on Monday, said.

Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS on Friday that Moscow was ready to send nuclear experts to North Korea to carry out inspections.

“Everything should be done to promote a political settlement” of the North Korean nuclear crisis, the minister told the news agency. “If our specialists are needed, then we are ready to send them.”

Also on Friday, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said it will hold a key meeting on February 3 to decide whether North Korea’s nuclear violations should be referred to the UN Security Council which could impose sanctions.

Losyukov earlier rejected US efforts to refer the violations to the UN Security Council, warning such a move could inflame the current crisis.

“To refer the North Korean problem to the Security Council would be seen by North Korea as an attempt to put pressure on it,” Losyukov told a news conference.

“If sanctions are introduced by the Security Council it will be considered by North Korea as a declaration of war.”

The Russian deputy foreign minister also said he had been assured by Pyongyang that the Stalinist state was not producing nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, the biggest plank in South Korea’s diplomatic offensive was the announcement that President Kim Dae-Jung’s special envoy, Lim Dong-Won, would travel to Pyongyang on Monday for three days of talks.

Lim is the architect of the government’s “sunshine” policy of engagement with Pyongyang and has met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il at least twice previously for official talks.

A presidential office spokesman said Lim would try to meet North Korea’s Kim during the talks.

South Korean president-elect Roh Moo-Hyun also announced Friday he would push to meet Kim to discuss the nuclear crisis after he takes over the presidency on February 25.

“I will propose to meet with Chairman Kim Jong-Il even if I lose face in the eyes of my people because I value dialogue and I think dialogue is the key,” Roh said on CNN.

The two Koreas also announced another round of cabinet-level talks from April 7-10 in Pyongyang, following the conclusion of a bilateral summit here on Friday in which the nuclear crisis dominated.

The delegations at the Seoul summit also agreed to economic cooperation talks to be held from February 11-14 in Seoul.

South Korea made its determined diplomatic push just hours after North Korean delegates to the Seoul meeting dismissed the South’s “strong demands” for Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

The spokesman for the South delegation, Rhee Bong-Jo, said the North Koreans were adamant they were not prepared to make any concessions unless Pyongyang could discuss the matter directly with Washington.

“North Korea kept contending that this nuclear issue should be resolved through dialogue with the United States,” Rhee said.

Analysts here highlighted the surprise announcement of Lim’s visit to Pyongyang as having the most potential to break the deadlock.—AFP