N.Korea agrees to return to nuclear talks in July

BEIJING, Sunday (Reuters)

North Korea has agreed to return to stalled six-country talks on its nuclear weapons programmes this month after a break of more than a year, Pyongyang's official news agency and a U.S. official said.

The official said Pyongyang had promised it would attend with the goal of making progress at the talks -- which involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The U.S. official, accompanying Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Beijing, said Pyongyang was promised no new U.S. inducements to return to the bargaining table but it appeared both sides had softened or dropped some earlier demands.

Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing are to make a joint statement on the talks after a meeting on Sunday.

In Washington, the White House said it welcomed North Korea's agreement to return to the discussions.

"We are pleased that North Korea is coming back to the talks with a commitment to a denuclearised peninsula," said spokeswoman Dana Perino. "We look forward to making progress in the six-party talks toward that goal."

The KCNA news agency said Pyongyang decided to reopen the talks after North Korea's vice-minister of foreign affairs, Kim Kye-gwan, met U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Christopher Hill in Beijing on Saturday.

"Both sides agreed to open the fourth round of the six-party talks in the week which begins on July 25, 2005," KCNA said.

The United States confirmed the timing and said Pyongyang promised it would attend with the goal of making progress. Three previous rounds have been inconclusive.

"We are able to confirm that we have an agreed upon date with all the parties for resuming six-party talks, the week of July 25," the senior U.S. official told reporters.

The confirmation came during a dinner hosted by China for Hill and Kim, who headed North Korea's delegations to previous six-party talks and is expected to do so again at the next round. It was the highest level U.S.-North Korean contact in a year.

Reviving the talks has become more urgent because of concerns Pyongyang has expanded its nuclear capabilities to eight or more weapons, up from one or two weapons when President George W. Bush came to office.

Since the last round of talks in Beijing in June 2004, Pyongyang had demanded that any new round have an expanded focus on broader disarmament issues, not just the North's nuclear programmes.

But the U.S. official said Pyongyang had reaffirmed the narrower focus, adding: "That's encouraging."

He acknowledged that whether the North is really prepared to negotiate away its nuclear weapons remained a big question.