Pyongyang will return to nuclear talks if conditions are met
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a visiting Chinese envoy that his government will return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks if the United States shows "sincerity,'' the communist state's official news agency reported Tuesday.
Kim spoke of his government's position in the escalating nuclear standoff with the United States and its allies when he met Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party's International Department, according to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency.
"We will go to the negotiating table anytime if there are mature conditions for the six-party talks thanks to the concerted efforts of the parties concerned in the future,'' he said, expressing the hope that the United States would show "trustworthy sincerity and move,'' KCNA said.
In the talks with Wang, Kim also said that North Korea "would as ever stand for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and its position to seek a peaceful solution to the issue through dialogue remains unchanged,'' the news agency said.
KCNA did not elaborate on what conditions Kim cited during his talks with the envoy from China, which is his impoverished country's only remaining major ally.
North Korea flouted Washington and its allies on Feb. 10 by announcing that it had nuclear weapons but was boycotting six-party nuclear talks with the United States, the two Koreas, China, Russia and Japan.
North Korea has said it would return to the talks only if the United States drops what it calls "hostile'' policy toward the North.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Lou Fintor said that U.S. officials were "aware of the report'' about Kim's remarks, and the U.S. position on resuming the six-party talks is well known.
"The United States remains ready to resume the six party talks at an early date without preconditions,'' Fintor said.
"The six-party talks are the best way to resolve through peaceful diplomacy the international community's concerns about North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and to end the North's international isolation.''
In his meeting with Kim, Wang relayed a verbal message from Chinese President Hu Jintao, KCNA said.
"Hu Jintao in his verbal message clarified that it is in the fundamental interests of the Chinese and DPRK sides to maintain the stand of realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and protecting its peace and stability, settle the nuclear issue and clear the Korean side of its reasonable concerns through the six-party talks,'' it said.
DPRK stands for the North's official name - Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
During three rounds of talks in Beijing since late 2002, North Korea has demanded more aid and a peace treaty with Washington in exchange for giving up its nuclear programme.
The talks have made little progress amid deep distrust between Washington and Pyongyang.
The United States wants a verifiable nuclear freeze and weapons dismantlement as part of any deal.
North Korea says it remains convinced Washington wants to topple its communist regime, and that it needs a nuclear deterrent for protection. - AP
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