A stalled round of talks on disarming North Korea’s nuclear programme will be extended even though a dispute over when around €19m of Pyongyang’s funds will be released from a Macau bank is not settled, a Japanese diplomat said today.

A fresh round of international nuclear talks opened today with negotiators inching closer toward setting a timetable for North Korea’s disarmament after the biggest obstacle hindering discussions was removed – £13m (€19m) in frozen North Korean funds.

Envoys met in China today to hammer out a detailed schedule for dismantling North Korea’s nuclear programmes amid efforts to resolve a sticking point over North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank.

North Korea has stated to delegates at international nuclear talks on Saturday that it is preparing to shut its nuclear facility.

China said tonight that progress had been made at the North Korea nuclear talks, and a South Korean official said all six countries had reached an unspecified agreement.

North Korea said it reached an unspecified agreement with the US this week on its nuclear weapons programme, and America’s top nuclear envoy expressed optimism Friday that progress could be made when wider arms talks reconvene.

THE United States offered to remove North Korea from Washington’s list of states sponsoring terrorism if the communist regime dismantles its atomic weapons programme, South Korea’s nuclear envoy said yesterday.

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

International talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme are highly likely to resume in the week starting December 18, South Korea’s top nuclear envoy said today.

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.

The top American, North Korean and Chinese nuclear negotiators met today, a US Embassy spokeswoman said, amid a diplomatic push to resume six-nation talks.

Trade ministers tried to keep the Pacific Rim summit focused on its economic agenda today as sideline discussions on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme threatened to steal the show in Vietnam.

Talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program will be at a crossroads when they resume after a year's break, South Korea's top negotiator on the issue said today.

North Korea’s No. 2 leader said today any progress at revived talks on the communist nation’s nuclear program will depend on the United States, according to a news report, an indication that any breakthrough at the negotiations could be difficult.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has told a Chinese envoy his country has no immediate plans to conduct another nuclear test but that US policy towards Pyongyang will determine the future, a report says.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a Chinese envoy that while Pyongyang has no immediate plan to carry out another nuclear test, whether it will do so in the future hinges on US policy toward the country, a news report said today.

NORTH KOREA yesterday said it considered UN sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its nuclear test “a declaration of war”, as Japan and South Korea reported the communist nation might be preparing a second explosion.

Washington was just hours away from approving a new proposal to North Korea when the communist regime announced it had conducted a nuclear test, pre-empting the US push to resolve a nearly year-old deadlock at international arms talks, South Korea’s nuclear envoy said today.

South Korea today urged North Korea not to conduct a nuclear test, saying it would further isolate the communist regime, while countries launched new efforts to persuade the North to resume stalled disarmament talks.