North Korea shows flexibility on nuclear talks: Seoul

Seoul, Jan 24: North Korea appears more open to U.S. and SouthKorean incentives to scrap its nuclear weapons programme, Seoul todaysaid, providing further hope for progress in talks on the communiststate's atomic ambitions.

North Korea's chief envoy to the six-country nuclear negotiationshinted yesterday there could be a change to his country's demand for anend to a US crackdown on its finances before returning to the talks.

''South Korea and the United States have put forward, throughclose consultations, an aggressive proposal for the implementation ofthe Sept. 19 joint statement,'' South Korean Foreign Minister SongMin-soon told reporters.

''North Korea has shown a flexible position on it,'' he said,referring to an agreement in principle reached at the six-way talks inSeptember 2005 to end the North's nuclear programmes in return for aidand security guarantees.

South Korean and US envoys have said the talks involving the twoKoreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States are likely to resumeearly next month and could make real progress.

Song declined to elaborate on the proposal made to North Korea,though he indicated that Pyongyang may be looking favourably at theinitial incentives offered in exchange for it to start scrapping itsweapons.

North Korea has agreed to freeze its nuclear reactor and acceptinspectors in return for energy aid, according to South Korean newsreports, but officials have declined to confirm the details of anyproposal made to the North.

''I want to stress that there is a consensus coming together thatwe need to overcome that issue and need to agree on the initial stepsfor the September 19 joint statement,'' Song said, when asked aboutNorth Korea's position on the financial crackdown.

The last round of the talks in December ended with no progressafter negotiations resumed following more than a year of deadlock overthe US squeeze on Pyongyang's external financing.

Two months earlier, North Korea had conducted its first nuclear test, in defiance of warnings from Western nations.

Despite the apparent easing of tension, North Korea's RodongSinmun newspaper railed in a commentary today against what it said wereUS efforts to modernise its nuclear weapons.

''The US imperialists are keen to provoke a nuclear war inKorea,'' the official KCNA news agency quoted the communist party paperas saying. ''In order to cope with such situation the Korean peoplehave boosted the self-reliant defence capability in every way under thebanner of (the military-first policy) Songun.''

Reuters>