N. Korea signals talks willingness
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (right). Pyongyang has been demanding security guarantees from the U.S.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea has confirmed that it is willing to hold talks with the United States and four other nations early next year on ending its nuclear weapons program.
China's top diplomat on the Korean nuclear issue, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, met North Korean leaders in Pyongyang during a three-day trip that ended Saturday, an unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the North's official news agency, KCNA.
KCNA said both sides agreed to set up a second round of the six-nation negotiations.
"Both sides ... expressed their willingness to make appropriate preparations so that talks can resume at an early date next year to continue the process for a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue," KCNA quoted the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
KCNA was monitored by South Korea's national Yonhap news agency.
China's official Xinhua News Agency carried a similar report on Friday.
The United States, China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas held a first round of talks on North Korea's nuclear development in Beijing in August. The meetings ended without much progress or an agreement on a date for new talks.
The North Korean spokesman was quoted as reiterating the North's demands that the nuclear dispute be resolved through a "package deal based on simultaneous actions."
"The main problem in preparing for the next round of six-nation talks is the United States' refusal to make a shift in its policy and its insistence that we disarm ourselves by abandoning our nuclear program first," KCNA said. "If the United States sticks to this position, it will break the foundation of dialogue."
North Korea says it will dismantle its nuclear programs in exchange for a U.S. security guarantee and aid. But before making any concessions, Washington wants North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.
The crisis flared in October last year when U.S. officials accused North Korea of running a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 deal in which North Korea is obliged to freeze its nuclear facilities. Washington and its allies cut off free oil shipments, also part of the 1994 accord.
KCNA reiterated that North Korea was willing to freeze its nuclear weapons facilities if the United States and its allies resume oil supplies and take the North off the U.S. State Department's list of terrorism-sponsoring countries.
Senior foreign ministry officials from South Korea, China and Japan planned to meet in Seoul on Sunday to discuss the nuclear crisis.
Copyright 2003 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
