The United States is open to discussions with North Korea on a peace treaty at the same time as six-country talks on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programs, but it must first come back to the negotiating table, US officials said today.
Commenting on a report in The New York Times, two officials said the concurrent efforts had been under way for months.
They played down the Times' report that the Bush administration was considering a new approach.
But some experts said there seemed to be at least a slight change in US emphasis designed to entice Pyongyang back into talks and keep Asian allies from blaming Washington for the moribund diplomacy.
"The approach with North Korea has always been the same, which is, when North Korea comes back and participates in the six-party talks, then we can proceed," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
"Nothing happens until North Korea goes back and participates in the six-party talks. Dealing with the possibility of developing nuclear weapons, and to talk about any further steps is premature," he told reporters on Air Force One traveling with President George W. Bush to Yuma, Arizona.
The New York Times said if Mr Bush allows talks about a peace treaty to take place on a parallel track with six-nation talks on disarmament, it would "signal another major change of tactics" for the administration, which has been divided about how to deal with Pyongyang through most of Bush's tenure. North Korea has long demanded a peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-1953 Korean war.
While officials denied a major shift, Jon Wolfstahl, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the US position "opens up at least the option for a change in sequencing" negotiations.
The administration initially insisted Pyongyang dismantle its nuclear programmes before receiving any economic or political returns but has softened that position over time.
A joint statement last September 19th by the six parties - the United States, North Korea and South Korea, China, Russia and Japan - foreshadowed talks on a broad range of issues, including a new peace treaty, within the context of the six-party process.