North Korea ready to talk, not yield: Analysts

Seoul, Nov 1: North Korea's pledge to return to atomic weapons talks does not mean the reclusive state is caving in and, emboldened by its nuclear test, will likely be just as prickly, analysts say.

North Korea confirmed today that it would go back to the six-country talks it quit a year ago over a U S squeeze on its offshore funds that Washington believes were being used to finance illegal activities.

Those talks group the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States and are aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

In part, analysts said Pyongyang genuinely felt vulnerable to the U N sanctions that followed its first ever nuclear test on October nine, especially from China on whose economic support the impoverished communist state heavily relies.

''They are certainly feeling the heat of sanctions and want to create an impression of being cooperative,'' said Seoul University expert on international affairs, Paik Jin-hyun.

With the nuclear test, he said North Korea may also feel in a stronger position to negotiate with the United States.

''Their position is one of more confidence,'' said Park Young-ho, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Reunification. ''They think they have already joined the nuclear club and have high leverage with the U S.'' But he called it more a tactical concession than any change of heart by Pyongyang's leaders.

''I don't think they have changed their position.'' North Korea argues that it was threat of war from the United States -- which keeps some 30,000 troops on the south side of the divided peninsula -- which forced its hand in conducting a nuclear test but promised not to be first with any atomic strike.

It is demanding a U S pledge never to attack it and for Washington to end the financial crackdown, which analysts say is causing real pain for North Korea's leaders.

UN sanctions and China's halt in oil exports to Pyongyang have compounded the strain. The North relies on China for nearly all its crude.

US Elections

Peter Beck, a Korean affairs expert with the International Crisis Group in Seoul, said the timing ahead of the mid-term U S congressional elections may have been a factor in its decision to return to talks.

''You are certainly going to make a better impression with the Bush administration if you do it (announce a return to the talks) a week before a close and hard-fought election than a week after an embarrassing defeat.

''If they were under pressure to come back to the table sooner rather than later, better to do it now,'' Beck said.

But like other analysts, he cautioned against any high hopes that the leaders of one of the world's most reclusive states would suddenly change tack.

''It really costs them nothing to come back to the table ... I think we have to have very low expectations given the fundamental distrust that exists.'' Park said North Korea, desperate to win over the United States even though it is so ferociously anti-U S in its official media, will likely present the return to talks as the result of concessions from Washington.

In its initial announcement on the KCNA news agency it said it would hold direct talks with the United States on the financial crackdown.

''It's a face saving way out of the impasse. But there'll be no early resolution,'' Park said.

Reuters