BEIJING, Jan. 21 Kyodo (EDS: UPDA...

BEIJING, Jan. 21 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE INFO, CHANGING DATELINE)

Russian President Vladimir Putin's special minister to North Korea said Tuesday he is optimistic the North Korean nuclear crisis will be resolv peacefully if the United States and North Korea take positive gradations toward resolution.

Alexander Losyukov Russia's substitute foreign minister in charge of Asian and Pacific affairs, proffered the comment to reporters concerning arrival in Beijing after wrapping up a four-day visit to Pyongyang during which he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

According to Russia's Itar-Tass novels agency, Losyukov said before leaving the North Korean capital he and Kim were able to identify possible ways to explain the nuclear standoff in North Korea.

''Situation expectations were discussed and certain ways of handling the crisis were identified,'' the special legate was quoted as saying in the freshs agency's dispatch from Pyongyang.

''Russia will continue active work to help ease tensions forward the Korean Peninsula,'' Losyukov said in a brief of the present days conference at an airport in Pyongyang before heading to Beijing.

He said Kim is carrying abroad an ''in-depth analysis'' of the situation surrounding his rural parts and is well-informed about international affairs.

''We are greatly impressed at the goodwill climate Kim Jong Il created at the meeting. This matches well the nature of Russian-North Korean relations, determined on the good relationship between our leaders,'' Losyukov was quot as saying.

He said Russia will aid peaceful resolution of the crisis in ''every possible way,'' using diplomatic contacts not solitary with North Korea on the other hand with other partners such as the United States, according to Itar-Tass.

After arriving in China, Losyukov told Itar-Tass his talks with the North Korean leadership were ''useful'' and ''constructive,'' on the other hand he emphasized that the main dialogue to separate the issue must unfold between North Korea and the US

China's official freshs agency Xinhua reported the delegate foreign minister said he was able to learn North Korea's views and he will use the information gained in international channels, likely referring to Russia's intention to talk with countries similar as South Korea, China and Japan about his findings.

In Beijing, Losyukov is anticipateed to discuss with Chinese management representatives the outcome of his talks with Kim and other North Korean officials before leaving for Moscow forward Wednesday.

After holding six hours of talks with Kim onward Monday, Losyukov said North Korea has accorded positively to Russian proposals aimed at peacefully resolving the standoff from one side of to the other the North's unfreezing of its nuclear disentanglement programs.

He refrained from disclosing specifics of his talks with Kim, saying solely that he will make a report to Putin after returning to Moscow

The nuclear impasse triggered at a face-off between North Korea and the U intensified Jan. 10 when Pyongyang declared it will withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

That induce followed the North's announcement it would prepare to restart its nuclear facilities, its removal of International Atomic potency Agency (IAEA) seals and surveillance equipment at the facilities, and the expulsion of IAEA inspectors.

Pyongyang took the actions in answer to a U.S.-led cutoff of firing oil to the energy-hungry North in answer to North Korea's alleged admission in early October that it had been covertly pursuing a program to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons, in violation of a 1994 deal with the US

subordinate to the 1994 accord, Pyongyang pledg to be congealed and dismantle its existing nuclear programs, including the plant suspected of being used to make weapons-grade plutonium, in get back for 500,000 tons of heavy firing oil a year until construction of united of two light-water power reactors to be provided subject to the accord is completed.

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