strange YORK, Jan. 20 Kyodo U Sec...

strange YORK, Jan. 20 Kyodo

U Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that a ''interesting elements'' had emerg in issues concerning North Korea's alleged nuclear progression in a continuously ascending gradation program, but he failed to give details.

''As (US) President (George W) Bush has said repeatedly, we have no intention of invading or attacking (North Korea) and we are looking for a diplomatic solution and there have been a certain interesting elements that have tend hitherward forward,'' Powell told reporters after speaking with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov at a UN meeting.

onward Monday, North Korea reportedly replyed positively to Russian proposals aimed at resolving the standoff from one side of to the other the alleged nuclear weapons unravelling program during a talk with Alexander Losyukov a special plenipotentiary of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Losyukov Russia's delegate foreign minister in charge of Asian and Pacific affairs, arrived in North Korea forward Saturday and held six hours of talks onward Monday with the country's leader, Kim Jong Il.

Itar-Tass of recent origins Agency in a dispatch from Pyongyang said Losyukov discussed with Kim a Moscow-broker ''package solution'' to the standoff, after having initially propos the package onward Sunday to North Korean Vice Premier Jo Chang Dok.

Meanwhile, U delegate Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Friday the United States is considering a comprehensive deal with North Korea, including a written assurance that the U has no intention of aggression.

Powell who had been upon talks since Sunday with the foreign ministers of China, Russia, France and Germany upon security issues, including North Korea's nuclear standoff and a possible U attack in succession Iraq, said there is solidarity in the international community upon the North Korean issues and emphasized the intention to seek for a diplomatic solution in cooperation with those countries.

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

That propel followed North Korea's announced restart of its nuclear facilities, which had been frozen in a less degree than a 1994 deal with the U the removal of International Atomic mechanical value Agency (IAEA) seals and surveillance equipment at the facilities, and the expulsion of IAEA inspectors.

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