S Korea: 'Sanctions won't work'

North Korea threatens treaty withdrawal

South Korean parliament is insisting sanctions cannot force North Korea's hand

Story Tools

VIDEO U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear development program is 'not a crisis.' PLAY VIDEO CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon profiles Kim Jong Il, the reclusive leader of North Korea. PLAY VIDEO RELATED • Wolf Blitzer: Increasing tensions  • U.N. says N. Korea has violated DMZ agreement  • On the scene: U.S. and N. Korea  • Interactive: North Korea's nuclear facility  • Special Report: The Two Koreas

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- As two U.N. weapons inspectors prepared to leave North Korea, South Korea's prime minister said his country may attempt direct talks with Pyongyang in an effort to get the north to abandon its nuclear program.

Prime Minister Kim Suk-soo outlined the government's plans in an address to parliament on Monday.

Over the weekend, the North Korean news agency KCNA carried a statement hinting Pyongyang was considering pulling out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, something North Korea threatened to do in 1993.

A senior South Korean official said such a decision would be "unfortunate."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday the situation with North Korea was "not a crisis."

The North Koreans called again over the weekend for the United States to enter into "face to face" negotiations with Pyongyang over North Korea's nuclear program.

The United States has, so far, refused. Powell said, "What we can't do is enter into a negotiation right away where we are appeasing them."

Powell said there were other means of putting pressure on the North Koreans and the United States was doing that.

"The president is keeping all of his options on the table, but we're leading with the diplomatic option," Powell told CNN.

But South Korea's Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun told the South Korean parliament economic pressure should be applied carefully on the North.

And South Korean President Kim Dae-jung expressed opposition to economically isolating North Korea and vowed to push ahead with his own "sunshine policy."

"No policy of containment and isolation against communist countries has succeeded in history even during the Cold War era," chief presidential spokeswoman Park Sun-sook quoted Kim as saying at a Cabinet meeting.

Kim said his government will stay firm with its "sunshine policy" despite the communist country's recent moves to restart its nuclear plants.

Last week, North Korea announced it will reactivate the Yongbyon nuclear power plant, which is capable of producing enough weapons-grade plutonium to make two or three nuclear bombs per year, and then told U.N. inspectors to leave the country.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its inspectors planned to leave North Korea on Tuesday.

Father guilty of killing 9 of his children • Helicopter crashes near U.N. • Arrest in Aruba missing girl case • FDA panel OKs drug aimed at blacks

EU 'crisis' after summit failure • Iran poll to go to run-off • 40 million credit cards exposed • U.S. House votes to keep U.N. dues