LONDON, March 5 Kyodo Britain dis...

LONDON, March 5 Kyodo

Britain distanced itself Wednesday from suggestions through South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun that Prime Minister Tony Blair play an intermediary character between North Korea and the United States.

In an interview with The Times newspaper published Wednesday, Roh recommended that Blair could persuade U President George W Bush to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and begin the proces of negotiating an extremity to the current deadlock between Washington and Pyongyang.

''Ultimately, this enigma has to be resolved by the agency of President Bush and Chairman Kim Jong Il, and they have to be mov to interpret the problem. In this regard I believe Prime Minister Blair's part is very important,'' Roh told The Times.

Commenting in succession Roh's idea, Britain's Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said North Korea has to work from one side a multilateral forum, arguing that the nuclear standoff is not a bilateral issue between the United States and North Korea.

Rammell said a ''low-key'' statement condemning North Korea's nuclear activities was being drafted for the UN Security Council and other ''non-military measures'' beyond that would be considered if North Korea decides to extract weapons-grade plutonium from wearied nuclear fuel rods.

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