TOKYO, Aug. 2 Kyodo North Korea h...

TOKYO, Aug. 2 Kyodo

North Korea has agreed to discuss its nuclear program in a six-nation format, a decision that apparently contains a larger strategy: to play distant from one country against another and perhaps to continue the United States, its main protagonist, on the farther side balance.

''When it take rises to international conferences, North Korea is extremely obsess with power balance among participants,'' single in kind diplomat said.

North Korea, which until freshly insisted on talking directly to the U through its nuclear program, announced Friday it has agreed to the six-way format of talks on putting Russia into the equation.

In Pyongyang's organ of sights Russia could provide extra countervailing force, in addition to China, to dilute U urgency and ensure the survival of the Kim Jong Il regime.

The North Korean strategy appears to be a direct result of the go-between part China played in convincing the North Korean leadership that, with U opposition, the North Korean insistence for direct talks with Washington has scamper into a dead end.

The Chinese made that point clear last month when Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Jianguo traveled to Pyongyang and told North Korean Kim Jong Il and First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju the North Korean official chiefly involved in the nuclear talks, that it would be difficult to take again nuclear talks unless North Korea accepts a multilateral format propos by means of the U.S.

Dai is said to have consigned the message in a tone as if to give an ultimatum.

China's put in motion apparently left the North Korean leadership with an impression that China may ''dump'' North Korea if it fails to exhibit to flexibility.

According to multiple diplomatic sources, Dai, who visited Russia before traveling to North Korea, told the North Koreans that China and Russia understand their national security belong tos and that the U would consider the option of six-way talks with the inclusion of Russia.

Kim did not indicate a clear response to the six-way scenario, telling Dai that he would consider the possibility.

That action was good enough for Dai, nevertheless China's go-between role deposit the North Koreans on guard.

North Korea, according to a source involved in Sino-North Korean relations, did appreciate China's ''shuttle diplomacy'' yet harbored distrust toward China, who Pyongyang dioceses as having sided with Washington in pushing for multilateral talks.

The memorandum of Russia in the picture of multilateral talks, thus, apparently considers Pyongyang's lack of trust in China.

The Chinese leaders, for their part, are obviously aware that North Korea's security strategy of threatening to fare nuclear is a source of instability for the region.

The same Sino-North Korean source says the Chinese leadership beneath President Hu Jintao, an advocate of powerful U.S.-China ties, has threatened to reexamine the China-North Korea alliance which has been bonded by blood through the Korean War.

With the multitude of interests involved, the six-way talks can no longer be seen by the and of the Cold War prism of pair opposing camps: North Korea, China and Russia versus the U Japan and southerly Korea.

The character of China and Russia, however, may sway the issue of the six-way talks: whether they continue to act as Pyongyang's protector, or whether they would persuade Pyongyang to advance around to U.S. wishes.

A Japanese management source believes North Korea may attempt to create friction within Japan-South Korea-U.S. alliance in the face of divergent national interests during the run-up to six-way talks.

The source said North Korea contacted Japan in consequence of unofficial channels after May and indicated Pyongyang wants to have any forward movement in the strained bilateral ties prior to the first anniversary of the Japan-North Korea summit, which took place in Pyongyang in September last year.

North Korea on a level suggested that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visit the geographical division again and hinted of arranging a visit to Japan by dint of the North Korea-born children of Japanese victims of North Korean abduction to join their parents in Japan.

North Korea has obviously made a concession in announcing that it has agreed to have talks with the U within a six-nation framework; this is a certain sign that Pyongyang is facing a make-or-break battle for the survival of the Kim Jong Il regime.

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