Britain and US in crisis talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons

Britain and the United States will discuss how to tackle the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme today amid signs that Pyongyang intends to exploit the war in Iraq.

At the talks in Washington, the UK and US are expected to agree to seek a United Nations statement urging North Korea to "pull back from the brink" by reversing its decision to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Although Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, has said America could fight wars in Iraq and North Korea at the same time, Britain will not back military action and is determined to defuse the crisis diplomatically.

North Korea raised the stakes at the weekend by warning that it would "not make any slightest concession and compromise", claiming that Iraq invited its "miserable fate" by opening its weapons facilities to UN inspectors.

Bill Rammell, the Foreign Office minister who will represent Britain at today's talks, told The Independent: "The situation in North Korea is very serious. The fear is that it will get worse before it gets better. There is concern that North Korea will use the current situation in Iraq to escalate things further."

North Korea has demanded bilateral talks with the US and a non-aggression pact. The US and UK want multilateral negotiations, and the UK is floating a compromise under which the North Koreans could have an informal meeting with the US during wider discussions.

Mr Rammell will meet James Kelly, the Assistant Secretary of State, and John Bolton, the Under-Secretary of State. They will discuss plans to impose economic sanctions against North Korea if it starts to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. The West believes North Korea already has enough fissile material to make one or two nuclear weapons and reprocessing would allow it to produce more within a year.

The US has already decided to impose new trade sanctions on North Korea after concluding that Pyongyang sold ballistic missile technology to Pakistan last August.

The US, UK and France want the UN to agree a "firm but low-key" statement saying North Korea's actions are unacceptable and demanding that it pulls back from confrontation by re-engaging with the international community.

China and Russia have been reluctant to use the UN route, fearing that it could inflame the crisis. However, China is now believed to be moving towards backing a UN statement.