Washington: Apparently realising that its inclusion of by President George W Bush in his "axis of evil" may have forced North Korea to warn about a third world war, the United States on January 11 sought to assure that it has "no hostile intent" of invading the Stalinist nation.

Renewing its assurances, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the United States has "no hostile intent" towards North Korea.

President Bush and all his top administration officials have consistently said the US has "no aggressive intent" toward North Korea and no intention of invading it, he said.

However, North Korea's non-compliance with its international obligations to abandon its nuclear weapons programme is of prime concern, Boucher said on January 10.

The international community has made it clear that both Iraq and North Korea need to live up to their obligations, he said. "We've made clear, the United States and others, that we are looking for a peaceful resolution of these issues," the spokesman said.

Drawing a sharp distinction between Iraq and North Korea, Boucher said, "The international community has dealt with Iraq for 12 years now, with various resolutions, been communicating, dialoguing, making clear what it was required, making offers of what Iraq could achieve in terms of sanctions lifting, in status of the world if they complied."

"Iraq has not only consistently failed to comply, but has consistently tried to deceive and defy the international community."

"North Korea is a different situation," he said, adding, "We deal with it differently."

PTI