The US envoy to talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons today urged the communist nation to focus on dismantling its bombs.

The US and North Korea today stepped up diplomacy at international arms talks, meeting one-on-one to address the communist nation’s nuclear weapons program and alleged financial crimes that have been an obstacle to the disarmament negotiations.

North Korea today defiantly proclaimed itself a nuclear power and demanded all sanctions against the regime be lifted before it disarms.

US and North Korean envoys today ended talks failing to reach an agreement on when to resume six-nation talks on dismantling Pyongyang’s atomic weapons programme.

US president George Bush today welcomed an agreement to bring North Korea back to six-party arms talks and said the United States will insist the communist regime abandon its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable fashion.

A special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao today told US President George Bush that China wants a strong UN response to North Korea’s claimed nuclear test, a White House spokesman said.

Japan pressed a divided UN Security Council to adopt a statement urging North Korea to cancel its planned nuclear test and return immediately to six-party talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons programme.

The United States has no intention to meet with North Korea during a regional security meeting this week unless it rejoins stalled six-nation talks on the communist country’s nuclear weapons programme, a top US official said today.

Japan today pushed ahead with its proposal for UN sanctions against North Korea for its missile tests, and China dispatched diplomats to Pyongyang amid a campaign to lure the reclusive regime back to nuclear disarmament talks.

A North Korean envoy today demanded the immediate lifting of sanctions imposed by Japan in response to the North’s missile tests, calling the measures outrageous, Kyodo News agency reported.

North Korea said today it would not dismantle its nuclear weapons programme until the US first gives it a nuclear reactor for generating power, casting doubt on its commitment to a breakthrough agreement reached at international arms talks.

NORTH Korea agreed yesterday to stop building nuclear weapons and allow international inspections in exchange for energy aid, economic co-operation and security assurances, a breakthrough that marked a first step toward disarmament after two years of six-nation talks.

North Korea pledged to drop its nuclear weapons development and rejoin international arms treaties in a unanimous agreement today with other countries at arms talks, in the first-ever joint statement after more than two years of negotiations.

North Korean officials visited South Korea’s National Assembly for the first time today in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation with their democratic rivals during joint celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

Negotiators from Japan, South Korea and the US met today to co-ordinate strategy for talks this month aimed at pressuring North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, after the North’s leader said a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula was his father’s dying wish.

In a diplomatic breakthrough, the Bush administration said it had wooed North Korea back to negotiations on the Koreans’ nuclear weapons program, though a date had not been set for reopening the long-stalled talks.

North Korea says it has taken steps that could allow it to obtain more plutonium for atomic bombs and that it will bolster its arsenal, the country’s latest provocation amid deadlocked talks over its nuclear programme.