North Korea and the US 'on a slide towards conflict'

War in North Korea is now almost inevitable because of the country's diplomatic stalemate with America, a senior UN official claims.

Ahead of this week's crucial talks between members of the UN Security Council, Maurice Strong, special adviser to the Secretary General Kofi Annan, was gloomy on the chances of a peaceful settlement.

I think war is unnecessary, it's unthinkable and unfortunately it's entirely possible,' he said.
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North Korea to put faith in deterrence

North Korea appeared to abandon diplomatic negotiation as a means of settling its nuclear dispute with the US yesterday, with a warning that only "tremendous military deterrence" could prevent Pyongyang suffering the same fate as Baghdad.

Backtracking from its central negotiating demand - a non-aggression treaty - the foreign ministry said yesterday that the Iraq war had proved that peace deals were all but worthless if they required disarmament.

"The Iraqi war shows that to allow disarming through inspection does not help avert a war but rather sparks it," its statement said
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