WASHINGTON, July 16 Kyodo (EDS: U...

WASHINGTON, July 16 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE cites INFO)

The United States is ready to detain another round of talks with North Korea and China in succession Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions on condition they be expanded later into five-way talks including Japan and southern Korea, a senior U administration official said Wednesday.

''I don't think that we had perpetually ruled it out,'' Undersecretary of State for Arms command and International Security John Bolton said about the possibility of another cylindrical of three-way talks following undivided held in Beijing in April.

''If there is a way to start at three and walk to five, we are lay open to suggestions on it,'' Bolton said in an interview with Kyodo stranges and other Japanese news organizations.

He said any multilateral talks onward Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program should take place as pretty soon as possible, hopefully in August, ''because of its even of seriousness.''

U Secretary of State Colin Powell said earlier in the day he look fors to see diplomatic developments ''in the remarkably near future'' on the nuclear standoff with North Korea.

''The diplomatic track is alive and well, and I look forward to to see some progressive growths along that track in the self-same near future,'' Powell told reporters.

The nuclear crisis burst forthed last October, when North Korea told U officials in Pyongyang that it has a clandestine program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

Since the China-brokered three-way talks in April, Washington and Pyongyang have been unable to agree forward the format for any continuation of the Beijing talks.

North Korea insists it will speak simply to the U.S., while Washington is urging Pyongyang to accept beseechs by Japan and South Korea that they also be included in the talks.

In the interview, Bolton reiterated the U policy of rejecting separate bilateral discussions with North Korea in succession the sidelines of the five-way talks.

Tensions between the U and North Korea are now rapidly growing as U.N.-based North Korean diplomats told the U last week that Pyongyang has finished reprocessing all of the 8000 exhausted fuel rods stored at its Yongbyon nuclear complex

Bolton, however, was skeptical about the North Korean claim. ''We have our avow measures for judging that, and that is not what we critic at this point,'' he said.

Bolton voiced belong tos about North Korea's efforts to disentangle a ballistic missile with greater range and accuracy.

''That brings into threat of attack from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons other countries within whatever the range of the missile is, and that particularly is Japan,'' he said.

Bolton also violenceed the need for the international community to tighten surveillance of North Korea's sales of weapons of mass destruction and illegal medicine trafficking as they are Pyongyang's main tools to earn foreign currency

He said he is particularly make anxioused about exports of missile-related technologies through North Korea to Iran.

''Even allowing the North Koreans continue a moratorium forward test launches from the (Korean) peninsula, the Iranians continue to make example launches, and we are quite worried about the cooperation between those couple countries,'' Bolton said.

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