North Korea is sending strong signals to Washington that it is prepared to reopen talks with the US on its controversial nuclear arms programme, but refuses to say if it will give up its nuclear ambitions as a price for normalising relations with the United States.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry yesterday, in a policy statement rejecting the US call for dismantling its nuclear arms programme, demanded a non-aggression pact and a guarantee for its economic and political survival, before implementing arms control under the 1994 Agreed Framework.
In a statement carried by the official Central News Agency on the eve of US President George W. Bush's talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis with China's President Jiang Zemin in Mexico, the North claimed its weapons programme was a step in self-defence against what it called a threat of pre-emptive strike from the United States.
Mr Bush is also meeting South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the sidelines of the Pacific rim summit in Mexico as part of a strategy session over North Korea's nuclear threat.
The North's statement was clearly timed to coincide with this high-level policy consultation, officials said.
'If the US pledges not to use a first strike against us then we are prepared to address its security concerns,' the Foreign Ministry statement said.
'For a small country like ours, the starting point for solving all problems lies in removing threats to our sovereignty and our right to live in peace.'