North Korea hints of return to stalled nuclear talks

China and South Korea have called on North Korea to come back to stalled talks aimed at ending its nuclear programmes, while Pyongyang hinted on Monday it might be seeking a way to do just that. Chinese President Hu Jintao and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, in Moscow to attend commemorations marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe, called on Sunday for a peaceful resolution of the crisis through dialogue, Xinhua news agency and a South Korean official said on Monday. Officials in Washington have said North Korea may be preparing for a nuclear test, while South Korea's foreign minister said last week diplomatic efforts to end the nuclear crisis had reached a "critical moment".
In comments late on Sunday, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Pyongyang wanted to meet US officials to confirm reports Washington was ready to recognise the North as a sovereign state and hold bilateral talks with the United States in the framework of six-country talks, the official KCNA news agency reported.
"If there be any request from our side, we only expressed our intention to directly meet the US side to confirm whether those reports were true before making a final determination," the spokesman said, referring to media reports on the US position.
The comment appeared to soften the North's position of rejecting talks outright for now, although it still said it could not deal with the United States while it called Pyongyang an outpost of tyranny - a label given to North Korea by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in January.
Diplomats and analysts note North Korea has in the past sought a face-saving way back to the table.
"Our will to denuclearise the Korean peninsula and seek a negotiated solution to it still remains unchanged," the spokesman was quoted as saying.
North Korean and US officials have met in the past at the United Nations, using the so-called "New York channel". The six-party talks bring together host China, the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and the United States.