U.S. to renew security talks with N. Korea

Secretary of State Colin Powell's view has prevailed over hardliners on North Korea

WASHINGTON -- After a three-month policy review, the United States is prepared to resume low level security talks with North Korea, focussing on Pyongyang's missile program and its heavy troop deployment near the Demilitarized Zone.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will inform South Korean Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo of the U.S. plans during a meeting on Thursday, an administration official, who asked not to be identified, told Associated Press.

And the Bush administration would not seek to renegotiate a 1994 accord that gives Pyongyang nuclear power reactors in exchange for a freeze on its nuclear arms program, Reuters reports.

It appeared that "Powell's view had prevailed" over hardliners' concerns in internal administration deliberations, U.S. officials are quoted as saying.

This refers to the fact that Powell in March signaled a keen interest in resuming Clinton-era talks on missiles with the North Koreans only to be overruled by Bush, who took a much more cautious and skeptical approach to the future of U.S. policy toward Pyongyang.

Since then, there has been increasing talk that while the Bush team would eventually re-engage Pyongyang it would be through "working level" contacts with the North Korean U.N. mission in New York.

But officials said Wednesday the contacts will be at a higher -- albeit as yet unspecified -- level.

There also has been talk that the Bush team, in a major shift from Clinton, would slow talks on curbing North Korea's missile program and focus instead on reducing Pyongyang's conventional forces.

But one official said Wednesday the Bush administration "was looking for relatively high-level discussions on a whole range of things," including missiles.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.