Report: North Korea Agrees to Nuke Talks

North Korea has agreed to six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons development starting Feb. 25, Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday, citing North Korean media.

A first round of talks between the United States, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia was held in August in Beijing, but ended with little progress and no date to resume talks.

“Regarding the next round of six-nation talks, the primary countries involved in the talks … have held several rounds of consultations and agreed to hold six-nation talks beginning Feb. 25,” Yonhap quoted North Korean radio stations as reporting.

South Korean’s Foreign Ministry could not immediately confirm the report.

The report came ahead of inter-Korean talks in Seoul this week. The talks are aimed at promoting reconciliation between the two sides, but the nuclear crisis has overshadowed similar Cabinet-level talks in the past.

The Yonhap report said this month’s meeting would also be held in China. It did not say how long the negotiations would last, but the August round lasted three days.

The nuclear dispute flared in October 2002 when U.S. officials accused North Korea of running a uranium program in violation of a 1994 deal.

Washington and Pyongyang had disagreed on ground rules for resuming six-nation talks.

North Korea has insisted it needs a nuclear “deterrent” against a possible U.S. attack. But it says it will suspend its nuclear programs as a first step in talks if Washington lifts sanctions against the North, resumes oil shipments, and removes North Korea from its list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

The United States says North Korea must first verifiably begin dismantling its nuclear programs before receiving any concessions. U.S. officials believe the North already has one or two nuclear bombs and could make several more within months.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly had met Monday with South Korea’s Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun and Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon before leaving for Tokyo.

“We very much hope that the six-party talks can resume before much longer,” said Kelly.

Stepping up the diplomatic push, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage already was in Japan and expressed optimism Monday that the talks would resume soon.

Meanwhile, the team of Australian diplomats returned from the North Korean capital Pyongyang after talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il and other officials.

“I had some very useful talks in Pyongyang,” said Murray McLean, leader of the five-member Australian delegation, upon arriving at Beijing’s Capital Airport. “We presented Australia’s strong points of view on the nuclear issue.”

He said he met with Kim “for extensive talks” but declined to elaborate, saying he first had to report to his own foreign minister.

Kelly and Ban reaffirmed the U.S. position on dismantling Monday, adding that it must be done in a “complete, verifiable and irreversible” manner, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil as saying.