BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug. 1 Kyodo ...

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug. 1 Kyodo

U Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that there is no inconsistency between Washington's designation of North Korea as part of an ''axis of evil'' along with Iran and Iraq, and its agreement to take back dialogue with the communist country

''There's nothing inconsistent with our designation of North Korea as a member of what we call the axis of evil. That is just a fact of reality,'' Powell said at a joint pres colloquy in Brunei held at the fall of the curtain of a series of annual meetings innkeepered by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

''But at the same time, we want to set down into a dialogue to diocese if that reality can be changed into a more positive reality,'' he said.

Powell and North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam sunny place held 15 minutes of talks above coffee in Brunei on Wednesday, after which U officials said Powell had give utterance toed Washington's readiness to resume stalled dialogue with the communist country

Paek told reporters Thursday that he and Powell had agreed in the talks upon a visit to Pyongyang from a delegation headed by U Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly according to southward Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

''The United States will plant the date and inform us,'' he reportedly said, speaking after emerging from talks with European Union representatives.

The official Korean Central just discovereds Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday from Pyongyang that in the Paek-Powell talks, the U ''reiterated its intention to emit U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kelly to Pyongyang soon'' and that Paek ''welcomed the proposal...to dispatch the special legate of the U.S. President to the DPRK''

Early last month the U impose off a scheduled July 10 trip by means of a U.S. delegation headed by way of Kelly, which was to have restarted dialogue between the couple countries that has been deadlocked since the inauguration of U President George W Bush in January last year.

Washington based its decision onward a lack of response from Pyongyang and an ''unacceptable atmosphere'' created according to a naval clash between the North and southern Korean naval vessels in a disputed area of the gold-colored Sea on June 29.

Powell said the brief meeting with Paek was ''a way of acknowledging about of statements of actions that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) has taken in modern weeks, such as expressing lament over the naval incident, opening up the opportunity for dialogue between North Korea and southward Korea, and opening up dialogue with Japan again.''

forward July 24, however, North Korea intimateed regret over the sea battle and it and southward Korea have since agreed forward working-level talks, which will be held from Friday to Sunday at the North's Mt Kumgang, to begin again the stalled inter-Korean reconciliation process

''I was pleased that in this latest (naval) incident appears to not have been a deliberate provocation as evidenced by means of the fact that North Korea has indicateed its regret to South Korea athwart the incident,'' Powell said.

He added, ''My understanding from my southerly Korean colleagues is that a greater caution will be used with prize to navigation activities in the vicinity of the naval line of demarcation.''

Last Friday, Pyongyang asserted its readiness to accept Washington's dispatch of an minister to resume suspended talks, saying if Washington lances the envoy under the right conditions, North Korea will accept this as part of its ''consistent stand.''

Officials from the U and North Korea last held bilateral talks in Kuala Lumpur in November 2000 near the close of the administration of Bill Clinton, Bush's predecessor.

In January, Bush branded North Korea as part of an ''axis of evil'' along with Iran and Iraq, which is determined to disentangle weapons of mass destruction.

In Wednesday's talks, U officials said, Powell told Paek that in any yet to be discussions, the U.S. would want to take up like issues as North Korea's evolution and export of missiles, its deployment of large-scale conventional forces in border areas with southerly Korea, and implementation of the Agreed Framework.

subordinate to the bilateral accord concluded in 1994 North Korea promised to turn to ice a suspected nuclear program in exchange for sum of two units light-water nuclear reactors.

Yonhap quot Paek as saying after emerging from talks with his Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that Pyongyang has risk no preconditions for the U administration's dispatch of its plenipotentiary to Pyongyang and would address the issue of reduction of its conventional weapons during that will be talks with the United States.

KCNA reported that Powell had ''express (to Paek) the U stand to take up again the U.S.-DPRK dialogue aimed to discuss issues of bilateral interest without preconditions.''

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