Western powers dismiss Iran-N.Korea comparisons

BERLIN, Oct 9 (Reuters) U.S. and European officials today dismissed direct comparisons between the nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea, saying they were different problems and would require different solutions.

Western powers unanimously condemned communist North Korea's announcement that it had completed an underground nuclear test. The West suspects Iran too wants nuclear weapons, an allegation it denies, but officials stress the differences between the two countries.

''Iran is a democracy, however odious parts of the regime may be.

North Korea is a dictatorship led by a man who people don't know very much about,'' said a source in Whitehall, seat of Britain's government.

Although U.S. President George W. Bush has named both countries as part of an ''axis of evil'', a U.S. official who declined to be named said: ''North Korea is a different case ... I don't expect our strategy on Iran will change. Iran certainly won't get put on the back burner.'' EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also said as much when reporters in Brussels asked him to compare Iran and North Korea.

The United States, Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China agreed on Friday to discuss possible U.N. sanctions against Tehran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment programme, which could produce fuel for atomic weapons.

Similarly, the U.N. Security Council is expected to meet promptly to discuss the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Hajo Funke, a professor of political science at the Free University in Berlin, said North Korea's nuclear test would probably not make Iran any bolder than it already is.

''Iran has already adopted an emboldened stance with the West because it is de facto backed by Russia and China and because of its resources -- that is, oil,'' Funke said.

The North Korean nuclear test would similarly have no impact on the EU's plan to pursue diplomacy with Iran by pushing the U.N.

Security Council to approve an incremental series of penalties, starting with mild political sanctions, he said.

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