N KOREA/US: Three weeks after its last nuclear test, North Korea said yesterday it was returning to six-party talks because Washington had agreed to discuss financial sanctions Pyongyang says drove it from the negotiating table to start with.
At the White House, US president George Bush said he wanted the talks on North Korea's nuclear programme to resume as soon as possible, and to succeed. But he expressed suspicion that Pyongyang might try to create divisions between the United States and the four other participating countries (Russia, Japan, China and South Korea).
"We have always believed that we can solve the Korean and North Korean nuclear issue peacefully," Mr Bush said.
"Success will mean that the North Koreans verifiably give up their weapons and weapons programmes," he added. However, analysts cautioned against expecting a quick resolution.
"The DPRK [North Korea] decided to return to the six-party talks on the premise that the issue of lifting financial sanctions will be discussed and settled between the DPRK and the US within the framework of the six-party talks," said a foreign ministry spokesman cited by the official KCNA news agency.