North Korea's demands cloud nuclear disarmament deal

NORTH KOREA insisted yesterday it won't dismantle its nuclear weapons programme until the US gives it civilian nuclear reactors, casting doubt on a disarmament agreement reached a day earlier during international talks.

Washington reiterated its rejection of the reactor demand and joined China in urging North Korea to stick to the agreement announced on Monday in which it pledged to abandon all its nuclear programmes in exchange for economic aid and security assurances.

North Korea's new demands underlined its unpredictable nature and deflated some optimism from the Beijing agreement, the first since negotiations began in August 2003 among the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia.