North Korea agrees to six-party talks about nuclear program.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: William Neikirk

WASHINGTON _ In a diplomatic coup for the Bush administration, North Korea confirmed Friday that it has agreed to participate in joint negotiations with the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia over ending its nuclear weapons program.

President Bush, who learned of the decision Wednesday from Chinese President Hu Jintao, expressed optimism that a deal can be struck with the Pyongyang government in the six-party talks expected to begin this fall.

With pressure from Bush and with the help of China as a go-between, North Korea dropped its demand for direct, one-on-one negotiations with the United States, apparently satisfied it could arrange to talk with the U.S. delegation separately.

In an interview with a small group of reporters Friday, Secretary of State Colin Powell ruled out a formal non-aggression pact with North Korea as part of the talks, saying that "we as a practice don't do that." A security pact of some kind is expected to be one of North Korea's conditions for ending its weapons program.

But Powell added that he has some ideas "on how their concerns about security and U.S. intent can be dealt with" in a multilateral framework that does not require congressional approval.

He would not elaborate but he noted that the Clinton administration also gave the North Koreans various security assurances "that demonstrated no hostile intent on the part of the United States."