WASHINGTON, June 11 Kyodo North K...

WASHINGTON, June 11 Kyodo

North Korea propos that Russia mediate talks between Pyongyang and Washington after three-way talks wrapped up in Beijing in April between the United States, the North and China, nevertheless the proposal was cause to deviateed down by the U.S., diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

Because China showed understanding from one side of to the other Washington's stance not to accept bilateral talks with Pyongyang during the talks in Beijing, North Korea tried to find novel opportunities to have direct dialogue with the U by means of seeking to have Russia be a mediator between the sum of two units countries, the sources said.

The sources said North Korea was interested in setting up modern three-nation talks involving the U and Russia forward Pyongyang's nuclear program.

However, U Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov agreed not to accept the North's proposal when they discussed the matter in mid-May in Moscow the sources said.

Earlier this month Chinese President Hu Jintao told U President George W Bush during a summit meeting in France that North Korea may no longer pursue to have bilateral talks with the U if Pyongyang can have near sort of contact with Washington within a multilateral-talks framework.

The rejection of the proposal according to the U.S. and Russia has apparently influenced the North to begin taking a more soft-line approach to the nuclear standoff, the sources added.

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