North Korea says talks format unimportant

North Korea said today it was prepared to consider any form of dialogue with the United States over its suspected nuclear arms ambitions if Washington was prepared to change its Pyongyang policy.

The official KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying the key to solving the crisis was Washington's sincerity.

North Korea has hitherto repeatedly insisted on bilateral talks rather than the multilateral talks that Washington favours.

The ministry spokesman said Pyongyang had demanded direct talks to gauge US sincerity.

But he added: "If the United States is willing courageously to change its policy toward North Korea, we will not care about what the form of dialogue will be."