ROK launches diplomatic drive to solve nuke crisis

South Korean leaders launched a new diplomatic drive with North Korea on Friday that raised hopes of a breakthrough in the nuclear crisis, as Russia pushed for more time for the stand-off to be resolved through dialogue.

The developments came just hours after the Stalinist state promised to work towards ending the four-month stand-off peacefully, although it flatly rejected demands by South Korea to abandon its nuclear program.

And in a sobering statement amid the rare positive developments, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov warned the crisis could lead to war if North Korea did not achieve its goal of holding direct negotiations with the United States.

"You cannot rule out the situation degenerating into a military conflict," Losyukov, who held a surpise six-hour meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang on Monday, said.

The biggest plank in South Korea's diplomatic offensive was the announcement that President Kim Dae-Jung's special envoy, Lim Dong-Won, would travel to Pyongyang on Monday for three days of talks.

Lim is the architect of the government's "sunshine" policy of engagement with Pyongyang and has met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il at least twice previously for official talks.

A presidential office spokesman told AFP Lim would try to meet North Korea's Kim during the talks but this had not yet been confirmed.

Meanwhile, South Korean president-elect Roh Moo-Hyun said in an interview with CNN Friday he would propose a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in a bid to solve the nuclear crisis.

"Normally a political leader of a country is very cautious in asking the other leader to meet because of the possibility that he might be rejected," Roh said in televised excerpts of the interview that will run in full on Saturday.

"But that notwithstanding, I will propose to meet with Chairman Kim Jong-Il even if I lose face in the eyes of my people because I value dialogue and I think dialogue is the key."