N Korea seeks Asean's help

North Korea has appealed to Southeast Asian countries for support in its row with the United States to prevent what it warned could be a "nuclear holocaust", according to a letter obtained by AFP.

In the letter to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' secretary general, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho warned the situation on the Korean Peninsula was "reaching the brink of war" because of Washington's actions.

He urged the Asean chief to inform the 10-nation organisation's foreign ministers "about the grave situation" on the peninsula "and give them a proper proposal", while criticising at length US-South Korean military exercises.

Tensions have soared in the region in recent weeks in the wake of a series of North Korean missile tests and tough rhetoric from Washington on the isolated nation's rogue weapons programme.

A copy of the North's letter, dated March 23, was obtained by AFP yesterday ahead of an Asean leaders' summit in Manila where they are expected to discuss the situation on the peninsula.

North Korea is known to have close ties with some Asean members, including Cambodia and Laos.

However Asean has in the past spoken out against North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Ri's letter appeared to be a highly unusual move.

A Southeast Asian diplomat said that, as far as he could recall, it was the first time North Korea had written a letter seeking Asean's help on the issue.

Ri wrote in the letter that the annual US-South Korea military exercises justified Pyongyang's decision to develop its own nuclear weapons.

"It is a fact clear to everyone that when they deploy the means of nuclear strike that can drive the Korean Peninsula into a nuclear holocaust in just seconds... the nature of such exercises can in no way be defensive," the letter said.

Washington has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group to the Korean peninsula amid signs the North could be preparing for a sixth nuclear test.

Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the US Pacific Command, said in Washington this week the US Carl Vinson strike group was in the Philippine Sea just east of Okinawa, "in striking range and power projection range of North Korea if called upon to do that."