The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, said yesterday Russia could play a "useful" role in nudging the North Korean leader, Mr Kim Jong-il, into a second peninsular summit and back to talks with Washington.
In Beijing - where Mr Powell is due today - Chinese dissidents urged him to press for improved human rights in China, and visit the jailed founder of a banned opposition party. His visit comes just days after three US-based scholars were freed by Beijing despite having been convicted of spying for Taiwan.
The South Korean President, Mr Kim Dae-Jung, meanwhile, used Mr Powell's one-night stopover - part of an Asian tour - to urge the US to mount a more aggressive push to reengage communist Pyongyang.
Mr Powell was asked for his evaluation of Mr Kim Jong-il's visit to Russia and planned summit with President Vladimir Putin during a joint press conference with the South Korean Foreign Minister, Mr Han Seung-Soo. "I don't have any expectations but I think it would be very useful if the Russians were to urge Chairman Kim to come to Seoul for the second inter-Korean summit," said Mr Powell.
"I think it would also be very useful if President Putin and the other Russian leaders would point out to Chairman Kim the importance of resuming discussions with the United States."
Russia could also help by alerting Mr Kim to the "terrible" state of his economy and his variety of other problems, Mr Powell added.
President Bush suspended dialogue with North Korea after he took power in January pending a policy review. In March, he hosted President Kim DaeJung at the White House and his harsh anti-Pyongyang rhetoric led some observers to believe gaps had opened up in the crucial Seoul-Washington axis.
Both sides denied that, though, and last month Mr Bush offered to resume the dialogue but on a wide range of issues.
Mr Powell was confronted by banner-wielding protesters when he arrived in Seoul claiming that Washington was forcing Seoul to join its controversial missile shield plans.
In China, an open letter by prominent activists to Mr Powell implored him in particular to seek the release of Mr Xu Wenli, founder of the outlawed China Democracy Party (CDP) who has spent 15 of the last 20 years in Chinese jails.
One of three academics freed this week, US national Mr Li Shaomin, was expelled on Wednesday, while two others, Ms Gao Zhan and Mr Qin Guangguang, both residents, were released on Thursday.
Mr Powell reprised a song popular among GIs during his combat service in Vietnam, of a lonesome cowboy tragically gunned down for love. His performance brought the house down as diplomats held an evening of karaoke and fancy dress on Thursday at the closing dinner of an Asia-Pacific security forum in Hanoi, guests said.