N Korea 'agrees to nuclear talks'

Washington wants North Korea's nuclear programme scrapped

North Korea has agreed to take part in a new round of six-nation talks on the future of its nuclear programme, China's vice foreign minister has said.

"North Korea has agreed to a new round early next year," Wang Yi said on Chinese television after returning from a trip to Pyongyang.

A first round of talks ended in August without agreement.

Earlier this week Washington said it would donate 60,000 tonnes of food aid to North Korea.

But the United States has also urged North Korea to follow Libya's example in pledging to abandon weapons of mass destruction.

Speaking on 24 December, the same day as the aid announcement, Secretary of State Colin Powell urged Pyongyang to "get smart" and join the international community in productive co-operation.

No date has been fixed for the resumption of talks.

China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia, held inconclusive talks in August aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Correspondents say Beijing has continued to play a key role in seeking to convey North Korea's concerns to the West.

The nuclear crisis was sparked in October 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of having a secret nuclear weapons programme in violation of a 1994 agreement.

Washington suspended oil fuel shipments to North Korea, and North Korea responded by removing monitoring devices from its Yongbyon nuclear plant and kicking out nuclear inspectors.

Pyongyang has since pulled out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and announced it had started reprocessing its spent nuclear fuel rods.

North Korea has demanded a formal non-aggression treaty which promises that the US will not attack.

Washington wants the nuclear programme scrapped first, but it has offered Pyongyang a written security guarantee stopping short of a formal treaty.