Seoul/Beijing: North Korea said on Thursday it was ready to implement an international agreement made last year but would not unilaterally give up nuclear weapons, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
"North Korea is ready to implement the ... (September 19) agreement but such a thing as unilaterally giving up nuclear weapons is impossible," it quoted North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan as saying after talks with his South Korean counterpart in Beijing.
Under the deal signed in September last year, North Korea agreed in principle to scrap its nuclear weapons programme in return for economic and security incentives.
Urging North Korea to get out of the nuclear business and rejoin a non-proliferation treaty, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Pyongyang had tough decisions to make ahead of a resumption of talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons programme, which is expected in mid-December.
The reclusive state agreed to return to the negotiations – which also involve South Korea, the United States, host China, Japan and Russia – after its first nuclear test on October 9 triggered UN-backed sanctions.
"The ball is very much in the North Korean court," Hill told reporters during a brief stopover at Tokyo airport after meetings in Beijing with his North Korean and Chinese counterparts.
"The problem is not setting a date. We can set a date any day – that's not a problem. The problem is getting to the talks and making progress."
"They must get out of the nuclear business and into the NPT," he said, referring to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which North Korea quit in 2003.
North Korean envoy Kim Kwe-gwan was amicable, but adamant about not giving up the country's nuclear programmes.
"The results to come will eventually surface after time goes by, and that is part of the diplomatic progress," he told reporters after a meeting with South Korea's envoy in Beijing.
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