North is said to be ready to offer talks

Pyeongyang will propose inter-Korean talks to Seoul in March, according to Choe Kon-kuk, the eldest son of Ryu Mi-yong, chairwoman of the North Korean Chondoist Chongu Party, representing a traditional Korean religion.

Mr. Choe met with reporters in Beijing on Tuesday after attending a birthday celebration for the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyeongyang. He later flew on to Germany.

Mr. Choe is the son of Ms. Ryu and the former South Korean foreign minister, Choe Duck-shin, who defected to North Korea in 1986.

Mr. Kim has a will to resume dialogue with South Korea, Mr. Choe stressed.

"North Korean officials made clear that they will reopen talks with the South in order to attract South Korean tourists to their spring festival and enhance inter-Korean economic cooperation," he added. "Workers' Party officials said that the North Korean leader Kim had allowed South Korean and foreign companies to post advertisements on billboard towers in Mount Geumgang area."

The diplomatic rupture between Pyeongyang and Washington continued, however. U.S. President George W. Bush criticized the North Monday for gagging the press. In a speech marking the 60th anniversary of the Voice of America, Mr. Bush said "Under some regimes, like that in North Korea, simply listening to the Voice of America is treated as a crime. And the fears of these regimes are well founded, because tyranny cannot survive forever in an atmosphere of truth."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that Washington's policies toward North Korea, Iran and Iraq, the countries Mr. Bush designated as an "axis of evil," remain unchanged.

Meeting with Korean reporters, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Tuesday that North Korea is China's friendly neighbor and that the two countries have kept in close contact. His remark was seen as a hint that Beijing had delivered Mr. Bush's message to Pyeongyang. In the summit with Chinese President Jiang Zemin last week, Mr. Bush had sought help from Beijing to open dialogue with the North.

by Kim Jin