N. Korea Tells U.N. Chief His Mediation Isn’t Needed : Diplomacy: Visit by Boutros-Ghali aims to defuse nuclear crisis. But Pyongyang greets him with criticism.

U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali was in North Korea on Friday on a Christmas peace mission aimed at defusing the crisis over the north’s suspected nuclear plans, but North Korean officials told him they did not need his mediation.

Instead, the North Korean government criticized the United Nations as a belligerent party to the armistice agreement that divided the two Koreas, according to a U.N. account of the meetings.

Boutros-Ghali crossed the world’s last Cold War frontier into the north earlier Friday, becoming the first U.N. chief to walk across the 40-year-old military demarcation line. He told North Korean officials in Pyongyang there is “real apprehension” in the U.N. General Assembly about any undermining of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

If the crisis is not solved, the entire non-proliferation program could be endangered, said a U.N. statement released in New York.

North Korea has balked at inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a U.N. body, of two sites that the United States believes are used to develop nuclear arms.

However, Clinton Administration and South Korean officials reported Thursday that Pyongyang has agreed in principle to allow international inspections of all its nuclear facilities. This concession reportedly came in secret U.S.-North Korean talks in New York City.

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Kim Yong Nam told Boutros-Ghali on Friday that there is no need for his mediation since his government is engaged in direct talks with the United States.

The U.N. chief told the foreign minister he did not come to negotiate the nuclear dispute. Instead “he wished to explore whether the U.N. might be of assistance (and) to help defuse any escalation of the crisis,” the U.N. statement said.

Boutros-Ghali is accompanied by his wife, Leah, and an 11-member entourage.

“Merry Christmas--Merry Christmas is about peace. Peace is the purpose of my goodwill visit,” he told reporters before heading north through Panmunjom, the sole crossing point.