American billionaire George Soros, the chairman of the Soros Fund Managment, answers questions raised in the news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.

During his State of the Union address last Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush said he was devoting efforts to prevent North Korea and other regimes from possessing "dangerous" weapons and demanded again that the North eliminate its nuclear program. Participants at the Davos Forum said Monday that the issue would become the biggest concern for the international community.

At a seminar focusing on the Korean Peninsula and stability in Northeast Asia, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said that countries' strategies towards North Korea have so far been a series of mistakes, and that he is sure that the North now possesses nuclear weapons.

He noted that because of the 1994 Geneva Agreement between the North and the United States, the country has had ample time to develop nuclear weapons. He said the Geneva Agreement was a mistake, and that the North's nuclear development is the most dangerous problem facing international society today.

After having an informal meeting on the North Korean nuclear issue at the U.S. Department of State on Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, center, South Korean Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Lee Soo-hyuck, left, and Mitoji Yabunaka, the head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia and Oceana Affairs Bureau, take questions from reporters.

Maurice Strong, and aide to the United Nations Secretary General, said that the issue would see a conclusion one way or another in 2004 since North Korea believes that U.S. President Bush will be re-elected. Strong expressed concern, saying that Pyongyang is adopting policies that are furthering the crisis.

The Davos Forum ends Sunday. The North Korean nuclear crisis and the reconstruction of Iraq were dealt with as the main issues on the agenda, and there were a diverse range of discussion sessions, including talk about the increase in the threat of terrorism and the international community's response, and about the prospects for the global economy.

Approximately 2,300 political, economic, and business figures are attending, participating in approximately 250 seminars under the larger theme of prosperity and security. (Choi Wu-seok, wschoi@chosun.com )