The US denied on Thursday that there is a rift with South Korea over the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue despite contradictory remarks from the two sides on the thorny problem.

"There is no rift between the US and South Korea. We are close allies. We are close partners in a broad bilateral relationship and particularly in our common approach to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula," State Department deputy spokesperson Adam Ereli said at a briefing.

The US has insisted that North Korea should dismantle all its nuclear programs, including the civilian use of nuclear power. However, South Korea said that the North has the right for such a capability.

"Our position is that North Korea has a general right to peaceful use of nuclear energy, for agricultural, medical and power-generating purposes," South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said in an interview in Seoul.

During the fourth round of six-party talks in Beijing, North Korea insisted on its right to retain a light-water nuclear reactor in any final agreement with the US.

The fourth round of talks, which lasted for 13 days in Beijing, went into recess on Sunday. All parties have agreed to resume the talks in the week beginning August 29.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2005)