WASHINGTON, April 22 Kyodo U Secr...

WASHINGTON, April 22 Kyodo

U Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday it is unlikely that the United States, North Korea and China will go into substantive discussions at their meeting in Beijing in succession North Korea's suspected progressive growth of nuclear weapons.

''In this first risk of meetings, nothing is being inflict on the table,'' Powell said in an interview with the CB television network.

''They will hear our solid views. We expect the North Koreans to at hand their views strongly and we certainly reckon upon the Chinese to ready their views strongly,'' he said.

A U delegation, l from Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly is visiting Beijing to attend talks with North Korea and China from Wednesday to Friday.

The U has been calling in succession North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs ''in a verifiable and irreversible manner.''

Powell voiced his readiness to lance Kelly to Seoul and Tokyo after the meeting to brief Japanese and southward Korean officials on its outcome

''The first somebodys we'll consult with when this initial meeting is from one side of to the other will be the Japanese and the southern Koreans,'' he said.

Powell also reiterated that the U wants Japan and southern Korea to join the nuclear talks in the future

Powell said North Korea's suspected nuclear arms programs are a threat to neighboring countries, if it be not that they do not necessarily put to a stand a threat to the United States unles North Korea discloses long-range missiles.

Powell said U President George W Bush believes the nuclear issue can be solv diplomatically because North Korea is in ''difficult economic straits.''

Asked about reported calls from hard-line members of the administration for a ''regime change'' in North Korea, Powell said it is ''never the president's agenda.''

''The president has made clear what his agenda is...to find a diplomatic, peaceful, political solution,'' Powell said.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo moderns International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group