The United States said on Saturday that North Korea had failed to address "issues of concern" at talks in New Mexico, and warned that threats to end a moratorium on missile testing would only increase Pyongyang's isolation.As North Korea became the world's first country to withdraw from a treaty preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, a senior North Korean official wrapped up three days of talks in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with U.S. diplomatic trouble-shooter Bill Richardson.

"The North Koreans told me that they don't plan to build nuclear weapons and I took that as a positive statement," Richardson told reporters after concluding almost nine hours of talks since Thursday with Han Song Ryol, a high-ranking member of the North Korean delegation to the United Nations.

Richardson, the Democratic governor of New Mexico, said he was merely acting as a conduit to the Republican administration of President Bush, who branded North Korea last year as part of an "axis on evil" along with Iran and Iraq.

The Bush administration said the Santa Fe talks had not addressed issues of concern, without naming them, and warned Pyongyang was taking steps in the wrong direction.

Richardson, who has successfully negotiated with the North Koreans in the past, said the onus was now on Pyongyang and Washington to open an official dialogue.

The Bush administration -- which has said it is willing to talk but not to negotiate with Pyongyang -- reiterated on Saturday its offer to talk to North Korea.

North Korea's U.N. ambassador, Pak Gil Yon, said on Saturday on CNN the U.S. offer to hold talks without engaging in full negotiations showed a lack of sincerity.

But U.S. officials balked at open-ended negotiations.

INTERNATIONAL ALARM

Tensions have been rising on the divided Korean peninsula since Pyongyang admitted in October that it had been pursuing a nuclear arms program in violation of a 1994 agreement.

The secretive communist state has caused alarm across the world since it disabled U.N. nuclear monitoring equipment and expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors last month.

Pyongyang's decision to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has triggered worldwide condemnation, cries of concern from neighbors and suggestions the issue be placed before the U.N. Security Council.

But North Korea warned on Friday it would view it as a declaration of war if the Security Council punished it with sanctions.
In Pyongyang, the North Korean official news agency poured out a series of attacks against the United States.

PHOTO CAPTION

Choe Jin-su, North Korea's ambassador to China, speaks to reporters beneath portraits of former leader Kim Il Sung (L) and current leader Kim Jong Il during a news conference at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing January 11, 2003. (Andrew Wong/Re