- (AFP) -- North Korea has agreed to a US proposal to hold
six-nation talks to try to resolve its nuclear standoff with Washington,
the Russian foreign ministry said following a meeting with Pyongyang's
ambassador to Russia.
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- The foreign ministry said a formal message outlining
Pyongyang's position was delivered to Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov
during a meeting requested by North Korea's ambassador to Moscow, Pak Ui
Chun.
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- "On his leadership's instructions, the ambassador
said that North Korea supports holding six-nation talks with Russia's participation
to resolve the current difficult situation on the Korean peninsula, and
is taking active steps to organise (these talks)," the ministry said
in a statement Thursday.
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- "Russia welcomed this constructive decision of Pyongyang,"
it added.
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- The statement made no mention of earlier demands by the
Stalinist state that Washington offer security guarantees in the form of
a non-aggression pact with North Korea in order for it to pursue negotiations.
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- Washington has been pressing for expanded dialogue with
Pyongyang following initial three-way talks in Beijing in April involving
China, North Korea and the United States.
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- North Korea, which has held out for one-on-one talks
with the United States, has been considering a new US proposal for resuming
three-party negotiations followed quickly by six-party talks with Seoul,
Tokyo and Moscow joining the forum.
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- The Russian foreign ministry said that the standoff had
to be resolved through negotiations that "guaranteed the Korean peninsula's
non-nuclear status and the security of the states in the region."
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- Fedotov on Monday had urged the United States to provide
North Korea with the security guarantee that Pyongyang has demanded before
continuing talks on its nuclear weapons program.
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- The Russian announcement came as top US arms negotiator
John Bolton slammed North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il for forcing his people
live a "hellish nightmare" as he stepped up a war of words with
Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons ambitions.
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- The US undersecretary for arms control and international
security said Kim had to scrap his nuclear weapons drive and was "dead
wrong" if he thought developing them would serve to strengthen his
regime.
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- The nuclear crisis flared in October when Washington
said Pyongyang had admitted to having a secret nuclear program in violation
of a 1994 bilateral accord that froze North Korea's nuclear activities.
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- North Korea kicked out UN nuclear inspectors, then withdrew
from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has since claimed it has
reprocessed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, an act which could herald efforts
to build a bomb.
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- Russia has revived Soviet-era ties with the isolated
regime in Pyongyang in recent years and is keen to expand its influence
in the region by helping to broker a settlement.
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