Russian envoy says Kim Jong-il positive on talks
MOSCOW (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is positive about the six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programmes, Russian envoy Konstantin Pulikovsky said on Wednesday.
The six-way talks -- which include the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, Japan and China -- are to resume in the week of Aug. 29 after 13 days of talks earlier this month failed to reach accord.
"I met the North Korean leader several times, including in an informal setting. Naturally, we discussed questions linked to the nuclear problem. Kim Jong-il is positive about the six-way talks on the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula," Interfax news agency quoted Pulikovsky as saying.
"(Kim Jong-il) said he wouldn't need a single nuclear warhead ... if the United States stops its threats directed at his country," added Pulikovsky, who visited Pyongyang earlier this week.
The reclusive North Korean leader rarely meets foreign officials. Pulikovsky said his meetings took place during celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Japan's wartime occupation of the Korean peninsula.
Pulikovsky also quoted Kim Jong-il as saying Pyongyang might return to the Non-Proliferation Treaty if threats from Washington ceased, Interfax reported.
North Korea withdrew from the treaty in 2002, when U.S. officials accused Pyongyang of pursuing a clandestine weapons programme, triggering an international standoff.
Early this year, Pyongyang announced it possessed nuclear weapons and demanded Washington provide aid, security guarantees and diplomatic recognition in return for scrapping them.
Washington has said it will make concessions to North Korea only after Pyongyang has dismantled all of its nuclear programmes in a verifiable way.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters
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