WASHINGTON, April 13: US President George Bush said on Sunday that prospects looked better for multilateral talks to resolve a nuclear standoff with North Korea after Pyongyang softened its demand for direct negotiations.

In a significant shift, North Korea said it would consider any form of dialogue with the United States if Washington made a “bold switchover” in its policy toward the reclusive Communist state. The North did not specify what would constitute a “bold switchover” but the poor, energy-starved North has demanded aid and security guarantees in the past.

For its part, the United States has insisted that Pyongyang must give up its suspected nuclear weapons programmes before the possibility of an improved relationship with Washington.

The North’s announcement could herald a breakthrough in the six-month impasse over its suspected nuclear weapons programme just days after US-led forces removed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power in a war the South Korean president said had “petrified” Pyongyang.

“We have made it clear that we think that the best way to deal with their proliferation is through a multinational forum,” President Bush told reporters at the White House. “It looks like that might be coming to a fruition.”

Mr Bush, who has lumped North Korea, along with Iraq and Iran, in an “axis of evil” for pursuing weapons of mass destruction, said he was optimistic a diplomatic solution could be found to the dispute with Pyongyang.

US officials expressed interest in the North Korean statement and said Washington would respond through diplomatic channels. The United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with North Korea but exchanges messages through diplomatic channels in New York and intermediaries like Russia and China.

“I think that people have got to know that we are serious about stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction and that each situation requires a different response,” Bush said. “We are making good progress in North Korea.”

COMMON INTERESTS: Pyongyang’s dramatic shift from a rigid insistence on bilateral talks came in comments from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry a day after Bush declared Saddam out of power and warned Syria against accepting escaping Saddam loyalists.—Reuters