SEOUL, July 9 (UPI) -- One day after North Korea warned of "merciless crushing blows" to the United States, Washington's top security official offered "surprising" rewards on Friday if Pyongyang gives up its atomic weapons drive.
President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, visiting Seoul, said North Korea "will be surprised to see how much will be possible" when it abandons its nuclear programs, according to South Korean officials.
"So much is possible if North Korea just does that," Rice said, as she urged the defiant communist nation to make a "strategic decision" to comply with international calls for nuclear disarmament.
"I wish (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Il would talk to (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi," Rice said, expressing hopes for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions, as Libya did last year.
In a meeting with Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, Rice said North Korea would be given a lot of political and economic benefits if it dismantles its atomic weapons programs, including a uranium-enrichment scheme Pyongyang denies it has, the U.S. security adviser said.
"For now, it is important that North Korea admits running a uranium-enrichment program," she was quoted as saying by Kim Eun-seok, deputy director-general at the ministry's North American Affairs bureau. Rice did not elaborate what the benefits would be, he said.
Rice's remarks came a day after North Korea warned of "merciless crushing blows" to the United States, which -- it said -- was plotting an attack on the Stalinist country because of the nuclear standoff.
"The U.S. imperialists, robbers, are frantically stepping up the preparations for a war of aggression behind the curtain of the six-party talks in a bid to stifle the DPRK (North Korea) by a preemptive nuclear strike," the country's defense minister, Kim Il Chol, said in a mass rally to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of the country's founding leader, Kim Il Sung.
"If the U.S. imperialists start a war in the end, the North Korean People's Army will mobilize the military deterrent force built up for years and thus conclude the confrontation with the United States with merciless crushing blows and accomplish the historic cause of national reunification without fail," said Kim, the people's armed forces minister, calling for soldiers to step up combat preparations.
The Bush administration, which has described North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" in the world, says North Korea acknowledged in 2002 that it is trying to enrich uranium for nuclear bombs.
South Korean officials say Rice's "surprising" offer might refer to a recent U.S. proposal of energy and security benefits to the isolated communist nation.
During the latest round of international talks on the North Korean nuclear standoff last month, Washington offered the North energy aid and a security guarantee in exchange for dismantling its atomic weapons programs.
The United States proposed a three-month preparation period during which the North would freeze work on its nuclear program, submit a list of all nuclear activities and remove key weapons ingredients.
In return, the United States would give a provisional security guarantee and allow other nations to provide the North with heavy fuel oil during the three-month span. It also offered bilateral talks for lifting economic sanctions and removing North Korea from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring states and other incentives.
The United States has been involved in the six-party talks hosted by China and including the two Koreas, Japan and Russia to seek a peaceful resolution to the North's nuclear standoff.
At the third round of six-nation talks from June 23 to June 26 in Beijing, North Korea asked for energy aid equivalent to 2,000 megawatts of electricity in return for freezing its nuclear programs. It has also long called for the United States to remove the communist nation from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring regimes.
But North Korea has reacted negatively to the U.S. proposal, saying it is "unscientific and unrealistic." But it praised the "sincere atmosphere" of the six-party talks and welcomed the U.S. acknowledgement that the country must be compensated for halting its nuclear programs.
Rice said the U.S. proposal is the best option available to defuse the nuclear standoff. "We've made good results in the third round of nuclear talks by presenting a concrete proposal at South Korea's request," Rice told South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
In response, Roh said closer cooperation between Seoul and Washington is necessary to resolve the nuclear dispute. "We laid the groundwork for resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue during the third round of nuclear talks," Roh said.
Rice delivered President George W. Bush's personal letter to Roh, in which he emphasizes his commitment to solid U.S.-South Korea security relations. "Bush is in a very good shape. He wanted me to bring a letter to you," Rice said as she presented the letter.
Roh thanked Bush for sending the letter, calling him "a man of optimism and energy." Bush "does not seem to get tired or frustrated in any circumstances," Roh said. Details of the letter were not immediately known.
Rice flew into Seoul earlier Friday on the last leg of her three-nation Asian trip that also took her to Japan and China earlier this week. But she was greeted by anti-American protests in Seoul.
Hundreds of anti-U.S. activists gathered in front of the presidential office, where Rice was meeting Roh. "No doubt, Rice's visit is aimed at pressing the (Seoul) government to dispatch troops to Iraq and to offer a bigger amount of land for U.S. troops in Korea," some 360 civic groups said in a joint statement.
South Korea plans to send 3,600 troops to the northern Iraqi province of Irbil to help in post-war reconstruction efforts.
