China and the United States held talks Wednesday on the crisis over North Korea's nuclear intentions after Washington offered to revive a program to give Pyongyang food and energy if it dropped its nuclear ambitions.But North Korea warned that it was ready to take more "defensive" measures against the United States that would go beyond its decision last week to quit a global treaty preventing the spread of atomic weapons.

In Beijing, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly faced pressure from China -- Communist North Korea's neighbor and main ally -- to hold direct talks with Pyongyang, as demanded by the North, as soon as possible, diplomats said.

China has offered to host such talks and Russia said it planned to send a special envoy to key capitals to help find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

There was no official comment on the Beijing discussions between Kelly and Vice Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and other Chinese officials, but Kelly told reporters beforehand they would discuss Sino-U.S. issues and problems related to North Korea.

"There's no substitute for communication," Kelly said.

Kelly was expected to ask Beijing, which provides grain and oil to North Korea at special prices, to put more pressure on Pyongyang to drop its nuclear ambitions and avoid provocative moves such as missile testing, analysts said.

Washington accuses Pyongyang of covertly developing nuclear weapons, a charge the North denies. The crisis came to a head Saturday when North Korea pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

In the strongest sign the White House had dropped a ban on incentives to resolve the issue, President Bush  said Tuesday he might revive his administration's one-time effort to aid North Korea if it abandoned its nuclear program.

"We expect them not to develop nuclear weapons, and if they so choose to do so -- their choice -- then I will reconsider whether or not we will start the bold initiative that I talked...about," Bush said.

KOREAN MINISTERIAL TALKS

North Korea did not respond directly to Bush's remarks, but instead raised the stakes in the standoff, which has resulted in a worldwide flurry of diplomatic activity to try to restore calm on the Korean peninsula.

"The DPRK clarifies that it will not make any compromise over the issue related to its sovereignty and dignity in the future," the official Minju Joson newspaper said. "But (it) is perfectly willing to take an immediate self-defense measure stronger than the withdrawal from the NPT, if necessary."

It did not specify what action it might take, but last week it threatened to resume missile tests. It once threatened to remove the United States from the face of the earth in "a sea of fire."

Pyongyang has issued a barrage of anti-American rhetoric in recent weeks. Wednesday it blamed Washington for nuclear proliferation and said the United States should disarm first.

"The facts prove that the U.S. is the epicenter of the nuclear proliferation and that it should be the first to totally scrap nukes if the nuclear proliferation is to be prevented," said the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

But North Korea also agreed with the South to hold a ninth round of minister-level talks in Seoul from January 21 to 24. The talks normally focus on economic cooperation, but have taken on a decidedly more urgent tone in the wake of the nuclear crisis.

"We will convey our position and the concerns and worries of the international community," said a South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman.

The Northern delegation is expected to be led by cabinet councilor Kim Ryong-song, with Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun representing the South, the spokesman said.

The apparent softening of Washington's position -- including a statement by Kelly the United States might be willing to help North Korea provide its people with energy -- came after weeks of rising tension during the Bush administration's preparations for the possibility of disarming Iraq by force.

"AXIS OF EVIL"

The Korea crisis began last year when the United States said North Korea, which Bush brackets with Iran and Iraq in an "axis of evil," had admitted to pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

Tension increased when the North Koreans expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors at the end of last month, then pulled out of the NPT and threatened to resume missile testing.

Pyongyang says direct talks with Washington are the only way to end the crisis.

The United States insists it will not offer North Korea concessions or inducements to roll back its nuclear program, but has said it is willing to resolve the confrontation through diplomacy, not war.

There was some skepticism in capitalist South Korea , where the tough U.S. stance on North Korea has raised questions in some quarters about the decades-old alliance with the United States.

"There must probably be no reason to doubt the leader of the world's most democratic state, but there are skeptics who find his vows to seek a peaceful solution to be somewhat out of harmony with his pronounced 'loathing' of the North's 'evil' regime," the Korea Herald said in an editorial.

South Korean president-elect Roh Moo-hyun, who has pursued a "softly, softly" approach toward ending the crisis, visited U.S. troops and said North Korea must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

Diplomatic activity to resolve the crisis has reached fever pitch.

China, which has taken a relatively balanced approach to the nuclear dilemma, offered to host talks. Still, Beijing has avoided a leading role, instead pressing both sides to negotiate.

Russia's defense minister said President Vladimir Putin  planned to send an envoy to Pyongyang, Beijing and Washington.

Diplomats from Australia, one of the few Western countries with diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, are visiting North Korea.

The United Nations  also sent a special envoy to Pyongyang to assess humanitarian conditions in the impoverished country.

And the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency was expected to hold an emergency board meeting next week to ask the Security Council to take up North Korea's NPT pullout.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly talks to reporters at a Beijing hotel, January 15, 2003. China and the United States held talks on the crisis over North Korea 's nuclear intentions after Washington offered to revive a program to give Pyongyang food and energy if it dropped its nuclear ambitions. (Wilson Chu/Reuters)