N.Korea wants Norway to broker nuclear deal

OSLO, Mar 17 (Reuters) North Korea wants Norway to mediate in its nuclear standoff with the international community, a newspaper reported today, but Oslo said it favoured a resumption of stalled multi-lateral talks.

North Korea says it has nuclear weapons, though the United States has been unable to confirm this, and six-party talks aimed at ending the communist state's nuclear weapons programme ran aground in November.

''Norway has a good reputation as a peace mediator and very good experience in international conflict resolution,'' North Korea's ambassador to the Nordic region, Jon In Chan, told Verdens Gang, Norway's top selling daily.

''We hope Norway can contribute as conflict solver in the ongoing nuclear dispute between the US and North Korea.'' Norway played down the offer, however.

''We have no intention of taking unilateral action towards North Korea,'' Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen told Reuters.

He said the country backed the six-party talks involving the United States, Russia, Japan, China and the two Koreas.

Since talks stalled, the United States has cracked down on firms it suspects of helping North Korea in illicit activity such as currency counterfeiting. Pyongyang has refused to return to the talks until Washington calls off its drive.

Norway's Johansen said he would bring up the nuclear question when he visited North Korea later in the year to discuss humanitarian aid.

''The international community should urge a six-party agreement, but if there is anything any one country can do towards North Korea, we would welcome it.'' He said North Korea's ambassador had not raised the question when they spoke on Wednesday. The North Korean embassy in Stockholm, where the ambassador is based, declined to comment.

Norway, a member of NATO but not of the European Union, has a reputation as a peace mediator after involvement in seeking to end conflicts from the Middle East to Sri Lanka.

It is also the home of the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1999 the committee, which is independent of the government, gave the award to South Korea's former President Kim Dae-jung for his efforts to mediate a peace with North Korea, still technically an enemy since the 1950-53 war.

REUTERS DKS RN2002