N Korea 'flexible' on nuclear arms talks

Published on Saturday 10 October 2009 19:58

NORTH Korea is showing signs of flexibility over returning to nuclear disarmament talks, and other countries must seize the opportunity to get the negotiations back on track, China's premier has said.

"We need to seize the opportunity and make the most of it. This way it is possible to make further progress," Premier Wen Jiabao said after a meeting with leaders from Japan and South Korea.

The comments were Wen's first on meetings in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who told him the isolated communist country may end its boycott of the talks, depending on negotiations with Washington.

Wen said he felt North Korea wanted to improve relations with the United States, Japan and South Korea, adding: "We support earnest and constructive dialogue between North Korea and the US."

He also stressed such bilateral contacts would help move the nuclear talks along. "The North Korean side showed flexibility. It said it is not opposed to the six-party talks and is willing to resolve the relevant issues through bilateral and multilateral talks.

Kim's offer of dialogue appears to reflect the North's keenness for direct engagement with Washington – a perennial demand.

The US has not yet publicly responded to Kim's apparent overture. But American officials have said talks with North Korea may be possible if they are part of the six-nation disarmament negotiations Pyongyang spurned after it was condemned for conducting a rocket launch in April and nuclear test in May.

Key to drawing the North back into disarmament talks – which include nuclear projects that can be used to make atomic weapons – are UN sanctions imposed after the rocket launch and nuclear test.