N Korea 'would swap nuclear activity for oil deal'

North Korea is ready to freeze a key nuclear facility and allow international inspectors back into the country in exchange for half a million tons of oil and an easing of US financial restrictions on the regime, a news report said today.

At coming disarmament talks in Beijing, Pyongyang will also demand that Washington revoke its designation of North Korea as a terrorist-sponsoring state, the Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported.

The report quoted former US State Department official Joel Wit, who met with North Korean officials in Pyongyang last week.