North Korea agrees to six way nuclear talks

North Korea said today that it has agreed to six-way nuclear talks starting on February 25, prompting expectations the countries will discuss the communist nation’s offer to freeze its atomic programmes in exchange for concessions from Washington.

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The announcement was a breakthrough after months of trying to restart negotiations among the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas.

An earlier round, aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear programmes, ended in August without much progress.

Hours after the North’s official news agency, KCNA, said the reclusive Stalinist government had agreed to return to the negotiating table, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue announced China would host the meeting.

Neither KCNA nor Zhang said how long the meeting would last. The previous round, held in Beijing in August, ran three days.

Zhang said all sides decided that conditions were right to hold talks now and that all should “exert sincerity and flexibility”.

Washington and Pyongyang had disagreed on ground rules for resuming six-nation talks.

North Korea had insisted it needs a nuclear “deterrent” against a possible US attack.

But it has said it would suspend its nuclear programmes as a first step in talks if Washington lifted sanctions against the North, resumed oil shipments, and removed North Korea from its list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

The United States has said North Korea must first verifiably begin dismantling its nuclear programmes before receiving any concessions.