NORTH KOREA: North Korea's Parliament has said it would take "relevant measures" to support the communist leadership's decision to reject further talks on the country's nuclear programme and boost its atomic deterrent.
The unusual decision by the Supreme People's Assembly echoed a tough weekend Foreign Ministry statement on last week's six-way talks in Beijing.
But it seemed to contradict comments by the official KCNA news agency this week that Pyongyang still wanted to resolve the dispute through dialogue.
The parliamentary decision said the Beijing talks - which brought together China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States - proved Washington did not want to co-exist peacefully with the North.
It noted that the North Korean Foreign Ministry, with government backing, had said it saw no further point in talks and Pyongyang had no choice but to keep and enhance its nuclear deterrent.
"\ considered as just all the measures taken by the Foreign Ministry upon the authorisation of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] government, supported and approved them and decided to take relevant measures," KCNA quoted parliament as saying. It did not elaborate on those measures.
South Korean media have said the North's parliament might map out economic reforms and policy for the next five years.
The North's economy is in tatters and piecemeal reforms, such as scrapping rationing and raising prices, have done little to improve things.
Parliament did not refer to KCNA's softer line this week, but North Korea has a record of issuing confusing signals while negotiating.
"I think we should not be swayed by sporadic comments coming out but focus on the bigger picture," South Korean Vice-Foreign Minister Mr Kim Jae-sup told reporters in Seoul after meeting China's pointman on North Korea, Vice-Foreign Minister Mr Wang Yi.
Mr Wang said many problems remained. "But with joint effort by all six countries, we can expect continued momentum to build peace," he said. He declined to answer reporters' questions on when more talks would be held.
But South Korea's top presidential security adviser said he expected follow-up talks to take place sooner rather than later in Beijing, although he gave no specifics.
"We see it will go well. It is welcomed by all countries," Mr Ra Jong-yil told reporters, referring to the prospect of more discussions. "The end of this month is seen as too early but I expect it to take place at an early date," he said.
Earlier, the North Korean parliament re-elected leader Kim Jong-il as defence chief - the country's top job, which he has held for a decade. - (Reuters)