China's Hu condemns N.Korea, counsels calm

BEIJING, Oct 9 (Reuters) Chinese President Hu Jintao added his voice to international condemnation of North Korea's atomic test, but told US President George W Bush the nuclear standoff should be defused through negotiation.

Hu and Bush discussed the crisis over the telephone, the official Xinhua news agency reported late today, in the wake of a wave of global leaders criticising North Korea's announcement that it had tested a nuclear device underground today.

Hu said the Chinese Foreign Ministry had given his government's official reaction, and he warned North Korea ''not to take any more actions that may worsen the situation''.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry bluntly condemned Pyongyang's act as ''brazen''. Analysts have said the test may prompt North Korea's long-time communist ally and main aid provider, China, to rethink ties and back some sanctions.

But as the United Nations Security Council considered a strong response to North Korea, Hu told Bush that all countries involved in the crisis should ''avoid actions that may lead to escalation or loss of control of the situation,'' Xinhua reported.

Hu, who was feted as a friend of North Korea when he visited there late last year, said Beijing believed there was still room for negotiations to end North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions.

''China has consistently advocated denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and opposed nuclear proliferation, arguing for peaceful settlement of the Korean nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation,'' Hu said, according to Xinhua.

''This policy will not change.'' Since 2003, China has hosted six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. North and South Korea, the United States, Japan and Russia also take part.

But those talks have been in limbo since November last year, with North Korea refusing to attend while Washington imposes financial restrictions.

EUTERS DKB KN2326