BEIJING, March 22: A top United Nations envoy returned from a visit to Pyongyang on Saturday and said war between the United States and North Korea was possible, but that North Korea was keen to avoid it.

Maurice Strong, special envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, told reporters on arrival in Beijing: “There is no need for war and yet war could occur if the parties concerned cannot find a way of resolving the differences across the table diplomatically.”

However, he noted that both North Korea and the United States want to avoid war.

“I know that they do wish to do this. It is simply the method of doing it that now divides them,” Strong said at the Beijing airport upon returning from a four-day mission to North Korea.

He said he sensed concern from Pyongyang that North Korea could be targeted by the United States for military action, given the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

In future, North Korea may take more actions deemed provocative by the international community, but which Pyongyang considers “logical” moves in light of its security concerns, Strong said.

“The DPRK officials really ... do not consider their acts provocative. They consider rather that these actions are a sign of their determination to defend themselves against the risk they feel to their security,” Strong said.

“And it should not be surprising if they continue these actions which are often interpreted as provocative and do indeed have a provocative element, but the purposes as they describe them are simply to continue their process of preparation for conflict should conflict arise.”

Mr Strong said the Iraq war provides “a special incentive” to resolve the North Korea crisis peacefully.

However, he said: “What actual impact it will have on that possibility is something that is hard to say.”

He urged Washington and Pyongyang to hold talks as soon as possible, saying further delay would make matters worse.

“I can only say that the longer the delay, the greater the risk of escalation, the greater the risk of deepening the differences and the hostility and the hardening of attitudes,” Strong said. —APP