US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that Washington was open to talks with North Korea on defusing the crisis over its nuclear test.
Ms Rice said it was important to implement UN sanctions imposed after North Korea's October 9th test but that Washington was not seeking a "quarantine or a blockade" of the impoverished country.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shakes hands with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon (R) and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso
"We want to leave open the path of negotiations. We don't want the crisis to escalate," she told a news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon in Seoul.
However, she said the United States hoped a Chinese envoy visiting Pyongyang had been successful in telling North Korea that it must return to talks on ending its nuclear programmes.
China, North Korea's strongest ally, said that Tang Jiaxuan, a state councillor and former foreign minister, had delivered a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
A US official travelling with Ms Rice to Seoul from Tokyo said he believed the Chinese envoy would tell the North Koreans not to conduct another test.
China has backed the UN resolution and has said it will carry out cargo inspections but not searches at sea to intercept arms and related material.
Last night, President Bush warned North Korea of grave consequences if it tries to sell nuclear arms.
In his sternest message to the North Koreans since the nuclear test, Mr Bush said the US would use whatever means necessary to keep it from proliferating nuclear arms.
He stressed the need to resolve the North Korea stand-off through diplomacy but said it was still an open question whether UN Security Council sanctions could convince Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme.
"They'd be held to account," he told ABC Newswhen asked how he would handle North Korea if it attempted to send nuclear arms to Iran or al-Qaeda.
While refusing to specify the reaction, he said: "You know, I'd just say it's a grave consequence."