North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a visiting Chinese envoy his government will return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks if the United States shows "sincerity," North Korea's news agency said today.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il
The announcement - the latest in more than two years of conflicting statements over North Korea's nuclear programme - came less than two weeks after Kim shocked Washington and its allies by claiming that it had nuclear weapons and would boycott the talks.
"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," Kim said today, expressing the hope that the United States would show "trustworthy sincerity," according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim spoke of his government's new position in over the nuclear issue in a meeting with Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party's International Department, KCNA said.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman said: "The United States remains ready to resume the six party talks at an early date without preconditions.
"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 its rejection of further meetings over the nuclear issue on February 10th, North Korea said it would only return to the talks that include South Korea, China, Russia and Japan if the United States drops what it called a "hostile" policy toward the North.