Asia-Pacific

N.Korea ready to discuss nuke disarmament

(AP)
Updated: 2007-02-08 12:46

BEIJING - North Korea is ready to discuss the initial steps of its nuclear disarmament, the country's main envoy said Thursday as he arrived for international talks on DPRK's atomic weapons program.

North Korea's negotiator for the six-party talks Kim Kye-gwan speaks to the media after arriving in Beijing's airport February 8, 2007. Six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme resume in Beijing on Thursday with the top US envoy denying a Japanese media report that the isolated state had signed a deal with Washington. [Reuters]

"We are prepared to discuss first-stage measures," Kim Kye Gwan said after arriving in Beijing for the six-nation negotiations set to start later Thursday.

However, Kim said any moves by North Korea would be determined by the United States' attitude.

"We are going to make a judgment based on whether the United States will give up its hostile policy and come out toward peaceful coexistence," he said.

US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill on Thursday denied a report in a major Japanese newspaper that the United States and North Korea had signed a memorandum last month agreeing on Pyongyang's first steps toward its denuclearization.

Asahi Shimbun, citing US and North Korean officials which it did not further identify, said Thursday the memorandum of understanding called for Pyongyang to begin closing a nuclear reactor while the US starts providing energy assistance.

"We did not sign anything," Hill told reporters, adding he was hopeful of progress in the current round of talks.

"If we're successful we could get to the point where we are discussing technical matters at working groups," he said.

No end date has been set for this round of talks, but Hill said the Chinese hosts expected the talks to last a few days and the sides would start reviewing a draft agreement Friday.

The latest nuclear standoff with the North started in late 2002 after Washington accused Pyongyang of having a secret uranium enrichment program in violation of a 1994 deal between the two countries. North Korea kicked out nuclear inspectors and restarted its main reactor, moves that culminated in the country's first atomic test detonation in October.

Although the US and key North Korean allies China and Russia backed UN sanctions after the nuclear test, Washington has since engaged in a series of diplomatic overtures that have drawn praise from Pyongyang.

The main US envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, went to Germany last month to meet North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan, and the North later said the sides had reached an unspecified agreement. The specifics of what they discussed haven't been made public.

Washington also has held separate talks on financial restrictions it has placed on a Macau-based bank where the North held accounts, accusing it of complicity in the regime's alleged counterfeiting and money laundering. Blacklisting that bank has scared off other financial institutions from dealings with the North for fear of losing access to the US market.