N. Korea 'prepared to give up nuclear programmes'

BEIJING, Tuesday (AFP) - North Korea said Tuesday it was ready to work with other countries to denuclearise the Korean peninsula and called for "strategic decisions" to make this possible.

"We are fully ready and prepared for that," said Kim Kye-Gwan, North Korea's chief delegate at multilateral talks here aimed at dismantling his country's nuclear programs.

A fourth round of six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs opened Tuesday in Beijing, state-run television showed.

"I hope and believe that our constructive efforts will lead to positive results of the talks," said China's chief delegate Wu Dawei in opening the talks.

The six delegates taking part, along with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, lined up for a group photo and jointly shook hands before moving into the room where the negotiations will take place.

"We think that the resuming of the talks itself is important but the fundamentally important thing is to make real progress in denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

"To that end, the parties concerned need to eventually remove the threat of a nuclear war from the Korean peninsula and to have a firm political will and a strategic decision to realize the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

"As long as all the parties demonstrate wisdom and the spirit of cooperation ... our ship will reach the final destination of denuclearisation."

The current standoff was sparked in October 2002 when Washington accused the North of operating a nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement.

"I'd like to brainstorm with you by putting together our wisdom to prevent these talks from being ceremonial," added Kim.

The comments came a day after the United States and North Korea held a rare bilateral meeting, described by US chief negotiator Christopher Hill as "businesslike".

Meanwhile A convoy of trucks piled high with sacks of rice rumbled across the heavily-fortified border from South Korea Tuesday as Seoul began delivering 500,000 tonnes of rice to the impoverished North.

The column of sixty orange trucks loaded with a total of 1,500 tonnes rolled across the border toward North Korea's southwestern city of Kaesong, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of Seoul, witnesses said.