North Korea wants to resume multi-lateral talks on ending its nuclear weapons programme without preconditions, the country’s top envoy for the talks was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
“We are ready to enter the six-party talks without preconditions,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan as saying in Beijing.
Preconditions set by South Korea and the United States were “in violation of the spirit of the September 19 [2005] joint statement,” Kim told a forum organised by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
North Korea agreed in 2005 to end its nuclear weapons programme in return for economic aid and diplomatic concessions from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.
Kim’s statement puts Pyongyang at odds with Washington, which insists that North Korea must take clear steps towards dismantling its nuclear facilities before the resumption of the stalled talks.
In another sign that North Korea is unlikely to meet the US demand, a US think-tank last week said satellite images suggested that North Korea had restarted its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which can produce weapons-grade plutonium.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Kim met top Chinese diplomats and attended a “Symposium on the 10th anniversary of the launch of the six-party talks” in Beijing.
The Ministry quoted Kim as telling State Councillor Yang Jiechi that North Korea supported China’s efforts to promote the resumption of talks.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to discuss North Korea and Syria with US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York on Thursday.