Expelled U.N. inspectors left North Korea Tuesday after the communist state set alarm bells ringing by ending independent monitoring of its nuclear program. A senior North Korean envoy added a new dimension to the crisis when he said Pyongyang was unable to meet its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty because of nuclear threats by Washington.

In the South Korean capital, Seoul, which is within range of the North's artillery, thousands braved the New Year Eve cold to chant slogans and songs by candlelight in a protest against the United States, which has been the nation's top ally against the North since 1950.

The U.N. inspectors, who flew to China, were told to leave Friday after North Korea started reviving a mothballed complex capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.

But U.S. efforts to ensure a coordinated diplomatic riposte have drawn a mixed response, with South Korea  and Russia taking issue with Washington's handling of their neighbor.

The inspectors, a Chinese woman and a Lebanese man working for the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), declined to comment on the diplomatic standoff.

"We have some job to do and we need to contact headquarters," the man, who declined to give his name, said on arrival in the Chinese capital, Beijing. He said he was heading for Vienna.

The IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, said the inspectors would submit a report to the agency's board on Jan. 6.
North Korea, which has disabled U.N. monitoring devices at the nuclear complex at Yongbyon, is demanding direct talks with Washington to defuse the crisis.

Washington, which has branded North Korea part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and Iran, says the North must halt its nuclear program and respect a 1994 non-proliferation agreement that ended an earlier crisis.

NUCLEAR STRIKE "THREAT"

Pak Ui Chun, Pyongyang's ambassador to Moscow, was quoted as saying the United States had followed moves to cut off fuel oil supplies to North Korea by "threatening us with a preventative nuclear strike."

"In these circumstances, we also cannot fulfil the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the basic clause of which is the obligation of nuclear states not to use the nuclear weapon against states which do not possess it," he said.

North Korea joined the treaty, designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and technology, in December 1985.

U.S. officials say Washington, its hands full with preparations for a possible war on Iraq, is unlikely to try to raise the North Korea issue at the Security Council.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the administration could leave the issue in the hands of the IAEA for the whole of January.

South Korea's president-elect, Roh Moo-hyun, who takes office on Feb. 25, took issue Tuesday with Washington's handling of the crisis on the world's last Cold War flashpoint.

"I think it is doubtful whether the U.S. tailored containment policy will be an effective way to check North Korea or make it surrender," Roh told reporters.

Roh said Washington must work out policy with South Korea, whose capital Seoul is within range of North Korean artillery.

"They must clearly recognize the point that while the success or failure of policies on North Korea do not affect the life-or-death interests of the American people, they do have a life-or-death impact on South Koreans," he added.

Thousands of people staged a candle-light protest in Seoul Tuesday, criticizing the United States for its policy on North Korea, among other issues. It was a reflection of the growing unease in South Korea on the wisdom of taking a tough line with the unpredictable North.

NOT AIMED AT SOUTH

Min Keong-min, joining the rally with his two daughters, said he wasn't sure North Korea really had nuclear arms.

"If they do, I don't think North Korea is going to aim them at South Korea. The North probably built them to protect itself from the United States," said the 41-year-old Min.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov issued Moscow's strongest condemnation yet of its Cold War ally Monday, denouncing North Korea's reactivation of its nuclear program and the expulsion of the U.N. inspectors.

But he also told Washington to tone down its "aggressive rhetoric."

Washington says North Korea may already have two nuclear weapons. It has called for punitive economic measures against what is one of the world's most isolated and impoverished states.

Congressional sources say President Bush's administration may be considering re-imposing unilateral trade and investment sanctions lifted by the Clinton administration.

But U.S. officials sought to play down differences with South Korea and Russia. "The president has all his options at his disposal," said State Department spokesman Philip Reeker. "At this point, nobody has talked about sanctions."


PHOTO CAPTION

A magazine discussing North Koreas suspected nuclear weapons program is displayed at a book store in Seoul December 31, 2002. UN nuclear inspectors left North Korea  on Tuesday as South Korea's president-elect complained that Washington had failed to consult Seoul on the emerging U.S. strategy for halting the communist state's nuclear brinkmanship. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuter