party talks remain the primary forum" to resolve the nuclear dispute, Strong said of Kofi Annan. Strong has been shuttling between capitals in the past two years to urge the parties to include economic and development incentives in any settlement to persuade the Pyongyang government to accept disarmament. Strong said North Korea has been holding bilateral meetings with the parties in the talks except the United States. Those one-on-one talks took place on the fringes of the Beijing meetings, but the United States has refused to meet separately with the North Korean delegation, saying North Korea has broken pacts made in past bilateral talks and the help of regional powers is needed to make Pyongyang comply. North Korea has specifically demanded that the U.S. signs a non- aggression pact with it and provide economic assistance before it would consider dismantling its nuclear programme. Strong speculated that the timing of Pyongyang's announcement was linked to the beginning of U.S. President George W. Bush's second term and statements by Washington that have been critical of North Korea's nuclear ambitions. -- SPA 2317 Local Time 2017 GMT
