"The key to solving the DPRK issue is to guarantee the nuclear-free status of the Korean Peninsula while addressing the DPRK's security concern and finding a solution to its energy supply problem," said the newspaper. "What the parties concerned need is dialogue, not confrontation; sincere consultation, not mutual condemnation," it said.

"Despite divergence between the United States and the DPRK, there are possibility and leeway to solve the nuclear issue as the DPRK has repeatedly demanded direct dialogue with the United States on an equal footing, and the United States is not opposed to dialogue with the DPRK," the newspaper noted.

The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted on Wednesday last week to refer the DPRK nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council, setting in motion a process that could lead to sanctions against the country.

Pyongyang on Friday condemned the UN nuclear watchdog's action, branding its decision as interference in its internal affairs.

"The IAEA interfered in the nuclear issue of the DPRK," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the country's official news agency, said in a lengthy commentary.

Referring to the IAEA decision, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan said China believed that "the UN Security Council's involvement at this stage might not necessarily contribute to the settlement of the issue." He asked the IAEA to "take a cautious and prudent attitude in addressing this issue and play a constructive role for the settlement of the DPRK nuclear issue."

On the DPRK's nuclear issue, China always holds that it supports a nuclear-free status for the Korean Peninsula, safeguarding peace and stability on the peninsula and solving the issue through dialogue and peaceful means, said the newspaper.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2003)