SEOUL, South Korea – Secretary of State Powell urged North Korea yesterday to rejoin nuclear disarmament talks if it wants international aid, while South while South Korea ended a high alert triggered by holes cut into a border fence.

South Korea, meanwhile, called on Washington and other participants in six-nation talks to show more flexibility in resolving the nuclear standoff – comments that appeared to distance Seoul from American proposals.

The foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon, urged “all participating countries in the six-nation talks to make more creative and realistic proposals to help bring North Korea to the talks as soon as possible.”

Mr. Powell said Washington has no intention of changing its North Korea policy soon, but would work to resolve the nuclear dispute.

“We agreed to continue devoting maximum efforts to achieving this goal through multilateral diplomacy and six-party talks,” Mr. Powell said in a joint news conference with the South Korean foreign minister.

“Clearly, everybody wants to see the next round of six-party talks get started,” Mr. Powell said, referring to the stalled talks among America, the two Koreas, China, Japan, and Russia.

He said the goal was to help the people of impoverished North Korea have a better life, in part by providing more food aid. American officials believe North Korea is biding its time on six party talks, sensing that Democratic candidate Senator Kerry might win the election and be easier to deal with than President Bush.

Mr. Powell predicted that North Korea will return to the talks after next week’s American election, South Korean officials said.

Meanwhile, South Korea said that two mysterious holes found on the wire fence on the tense border with North Korea were most likely used not by communist infiltrators but by a South Korean defector to the North. It ordered its troops to stand down from a high alert.