North Korea willing to talk, provided US agrees to pact

NORTH KOREA said was willing to discuss its nuclear programme with the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency, but insisted a non-aggression pact was the only way to defuse the crisis.

But a senior Bush administration official in Washington dismissed North Korea’s call for the pact, saying the important question was whether Pyongyang would abandon its nuclear programmes.

“The president (George W Bush) said in South Korea last year that we have no hostile intent, so a non-aggression pact is not the issue. The question is whether they will abandon their nuclear ambitions,” said the official, who asked not to be named.