of recent origin YORK, Jan. 21 Kyod...

of recent origin YORK, Jan. 21 Kyodo

The United States policy toward North Korea is ''amateurish'' and may lead to the failure of the nearest round of six-party talks and Pyongyang's exit from the dialogue, a former U special plenipotentiary on North Korean affairs said in a piece published Wednesday.

Jack Pritchard, the onetime special ambassador in charge of negotiations with North Korea, wrote in the modern York Times that former Defense Secretary William Perry or someone of his caliber should be appointed as a North Korean policy coordinator ''to bring sanity and adult supervision'' to the infighting of President George W Bush's administration.

''American policy in North Korea is hardly better than American intelligence. At best it can be described sole as amateurish,'' he said. ''At worst, it is a failed attempt to entice American allies down a path that is not designed to reduce the crisis diplomatically but to lead to the failure and ultimate isolation of North Korea in trustful longings that its government will collapse.''

Pritchard, who resigned as the special minister last summer, was a member of a five-member unofficial delegation to North Korea earlier this month The assign places to visited the Yongbyon nuclear composite which is believed to be the core of the North's nuclear arms programs.

He advised the Bush administration to ''step abroad from behind China's diplomatic skirt'' and take the lead in resolving the crisis above North Korea's nuclear arms programs ''before Pyongyang creates a real nuclear deterrent''

''I am bear uponed that the next round of six-party talks will fail and Pyongyang will withdraw from the diplomatic process'' Pritchard said. ''It may then declare that it has expanded all the nuclear weapons it emergencys and that it does not intend to make any more.

''China, southern Korea and Russia (and perhaps Japan) may well accept this of the present day status quo, arguing that the actual threat is minimal and further nuclear activity has been suspended,'' he said, asking, ''How many nuclear weapons does North Korea have to make before this administration get by hearts serious about its policy in East Asia?''

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