US 'hostility' endangering nuclear talks, says North Korea

North Korea said today that the chances of another round of six-nation talks over its nuclear programme had ”fallen into danger”.

The statement in Beijing came hours after the United States said the North had promised to prove it possessed such weapons by testing them.

“As the United States refuses to express intentions to switch over its hostile policy against North Korea, the prospect for the next round of talks has fallen into danger,” said a statement from KCNA, the North’s official news agency. It was reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

The developments came after other nations – in particular South Korea and Russia – said participants in this week’s summit in the Chinese capital had agreed to meet and talk again.

Well before the conference began on Wednesday, participants and observers had suggested that the mere accomplishment of agreeing to talk again would be a victory.

But the statements from Washington and Pyongyang cast doubt on that possibility as the last day of talks reconvened today.

“The United States said that the next round of talks can continue if we express our willingness to give up our nuclear plans at this time,” KCNA said. “That means they plan to act after we dismantle.”

It added: “This kind of demand is beyond common sense. We cannot but point out the real intentions of the United States.”

According to a US government official, North Korean deputy foreign minister Kim Yong Il said earlier at the meeting that his country had the means to deliver nuclear weapons, an apparent reference to its highly-developed missile programme.

North Korea’s strident rhetoric is well-known, and it has made such intimidating statements before, leading some to caution against a rush to judgment.

“It is questionable whether just that part of the conversation should be paid attention to – we should see what was said before and after,” Yasuo Fukuda, Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary and top aide to prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, said in Tokyo.

In Beijing, Lee Soo-hyuck, the head of the South Korean delegation, declined to comment.

In Washington, the US State Department did the same, saying only that the American goal at the conference was to focus on “the complete, verifiable and irreversible elimination” of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly did not comment as he left his Beijing hotel for the final day of the talks.

North Korea had confirmed privately to US officials last April during talks in China that it possessed nuclear weapons, but Kim’s statement is believed to have been its first such acknowledgement in a formal setting – in front of representatives from China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

US intelligence has not detected overt signs that North Korea is preparing to conduct a nuclear weapons test, says one US defence official. But such a test would presumably be underground, so preparatory work would be difficult to detect.

All the governments represented in Beijing had expressed varying degrees of opposition to the North’s nuclear programmes. China, a long-time political ally of North Korea, has also said repeatedly that it wants a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

According to the official, Kim said there was no evidence of any US intention to abandon its policy of hostility. He also rejected US suggestions that North Korea open up its nuclear facilities to international inspection.

The administration official said China’s delegate appeared visibly angry over Kim’s statement but responded in a moderate tone.

The official said that when Russia and Japan attempted to point out some positive elements of the US presentation, the North Korean delegate attacked them by name and said they were lying at the instruction of the United States.

“We’ve seen these tantrum tactics before, usually in response to a US refusal to acquiesce to the North’s demands,” said Molly Pickett, director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Centre for Arms Control and Non-proliferation.

“The announcement today may well have been a reaction to the Bush administration’s rejection of a formal non-aggression agreement and the North’s continued perception of a hostile US policy,” Pickett said in a statement.