SEOUL: North Korea has told a Russian envoy that it is willing to discuss its uranium enrichment programme and a suspension of nuclear tests if six party disarmament talks resume, state media said on Tuesday.
"North Korea expressed its stand that it can go out to the six party talks without any precondition," Pyongyang's foreign ministry said in a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The move adds momentum to diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula, which soared with the North's shelling of a frontier island in November that killed four South Koreans and sparked brief fears of war.
At talks last weekend with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin, the North said it would not oppose talks on the uranium enrichment programme at the six party forums a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying.
Russia called for "constructive" measures from Pyongyang including a moratorium on nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches and allowing international experts access to uranium enrichment facilities, KCNA said.
The North said it was willing to discuss issues already hammered out in a nuclear deal in 2005 "on the principle of simultaneous action" if the talks are resumed, it said.
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