WASHINGTON, Feb 7: US President George Bush said on Friday he would work with allies like China and Russia to resolve a nuclear dispute with North Korea peacefully, but warned “all options are on the table”.

Under fire for allegedly neglecting Pyongyang as he pushes for disarming Iraq, Bush said he had urged Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Friday to shoulder a “joint responsibility” to keep nuclear arms off the Korean peninsula.

“I talked to the president of China (by telephone) and reminded him that we have a joint responsibility to uphold the goal that we talked about in Crawford, that goal being a nuclear-weapons-free peninsula,” he said.

A day after his chief spokesman had parried North Korea’s threat of total war by saying Washington had “robust plans for any contingencies,” Bush declared that “all options are on the table, of course”.

“But I believe we can solve this diplomatically,” said Mr Bush, who told reporters that he had recently discussed the situation in North Korea with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

“Russia has a responsibility, I explained that to President Putin the other day when I spoke to him ... when I spoke to Prime Minister Koizumi recently, I talked about the North Korean issue,” the president said.

Washington has insisted that, unlike Iraq, North Korea is best handled through diplomatic means, by coordinating pressure with key nations like South Korea, Russia, China, and Japan.

“We will continue to work diplomatically to make it very clear to (North Korean supreme leader) Kim Jong Il that, should he expect any kind of aid and help for his people, that he must comply with the world’s demand that he not develop a nuclear weapon,” said Bush.

After more nuclear brinkmanship by Pyongyang, Bush administration officials stressed they wanted a peaceful solution and would not be panicked into concessions.

But for the second straight day senior policymakers faced stiff questioning in Congress on their handling of a drama they still decline to call a crisis.

“We’ve heard much talk from North Korea before. Obviously the United States is very prepared, with robust plans, for any contingencies,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

North Korea said on Wednesday it had reactivated its Yongbyon nuclear plant, thought capable of producing a handful of bombs within months.

Bush says he is ready to talk to Pyongyang — but only about how it can dismantle the twin nuclear programs which sparked the crisis last year.

Democrats in Congress argue that is not enough to stall the crisis.

“The president should stop downplaying this threat, start paying more attention to it, and immediately engage the North Koreans in direct talks,” Senate Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle said.

Senator Joe Biden added: “I am concerned that our understandable focus on Iraq at this time is taking focus off what I believe to be an equally, if not more immediate threat to US interest and those of our allies. I speak of Koera.”

Secretary of State Colin Powell rejected those charges.

“We are not ignoring these issues, we are deeply engaged in these issues, we are in touch with the North Koreans in a variety of channels,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Powell said he had over the past 36 hours discussed the crisis with the foreign ministers of China and Russia.

WARNING: North Korea’s bellicose statements in an escalating nuclear crisis are just giving it further to climb down at the end of the drama, the Pentagon’s number two civilian leader warned Friday.