Washington: The tripartite talks involving US, North Korea and China, which got underway in Beijing to resolve Pyongyang's nuclear issue will focus on discussions and not on decisions, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said and maintained that North Korea cannot intimidate US on the basis of its nuclear capability.

"This is the first set of meetings. Nothing is being put on the table. The relations have been strained, and in this first set of meetings with the Chinese and the North Koreans, they will begin a set of discussions," Powell said in an interview on April 23 on PBS television.

"The North Koreans will hear what the US thinks about the situation. They will hear the strong views of the US and we expect the North Koreans to present their views strongly," Powell said, adding President George Bush's agenda is to find a diplomatic, peaceful and political solution.

Asked whether North Koreans may be feeling that as long as they have nuclear weapons the US is going to negotiate with them and not attack them, he said, "I don't know what they might or might not do, but the one thing they won't do is intimidate us. And we are going to make that very clear in these discussions."

Disclosing that he would be visiting Syria shortly, Powell said there was a marked difference in Syria's response to US concerns. "We have seen some response, not a full response, and we still have significant differences with Syria, but we will be discussing these differences," he said.

PTI