S. Korean leader dismisses criticism over exclusion from talks

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's president said Thursday he believes negotiations between the United States, North Korea and China will help ease a nuclear standoff even though his country has been excluded from the talks.

"Many people seem disappointed and feel their pride hurt because we will not participate in the talks," President Roh Moo-hyun said in a statement issued by his office. "The most important thing is the talks' outcome."

For months, Roh said South Korea would play a leading role in international efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program.

On Wednesday, the United States said it and North Korea would hold talks in Beijing as early as next week. North Korea originally wanted one-on-one talks with the United States, but eventually said other countries could participate. However, it ruled out a role for South Korea.

U.S. officials say the North's nuclear program poses a danger to the entire world, and they want other countries -- especially South Korea and Japan -- to be part of the solution.

South Korea's main opposition Grand National Party said the country's exclusion from next week's talks was "unacceptable."

Opposition politicians have criticized the government of pampering North Korea by giving economic aid and other concessions for little in return.

South Korea also said Russia should be involved in persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday welcomed plans for the meetings and expressed readiness to take part.

The Russian news agency Interfax quoted an unnamed Russian diplomat as saying Moscow was proposing that North Korea return to the global nonproliferation treaty it renounced in return for security guarantees backed by the United States, North Korea, Russia and China.

However, the diplomat said, "Our possibilities to solve the current problems and our influence on (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Il are inconsiderable."

Moscow was a close ally of North Korea during the Cold War but that friendship faded after the Soviet Union collapsed. There has been a rapprochement of sorts, with Kim visiting Russia last year and Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting Pyongyang in 2000.

The nuclear dispute flared in October when Washington said North Korea admitted running a secret nuclear weapons program. The United States and its allies stopped oil shipments to the North, which retaliated by withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and moving to restart its nuclear facilities.

China would not say what role it would play in the upcoming negotiations.

Any resolution would require "the political will and sincerity of the parties involved as well as the encouragement and support of the international community," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

China sent troops to fight alongside North Korea's army in the 1950-1953 Korean War and is the isolated communist state's biggest source of food, fuel and other aid.