N Korea says it won't unilaterally abandon nuke programme

SEOUL: North Korea said on Thursday it will not give up its nuclear weapons unilaterally but remains committed to denuclearisation in the region.   

The communist state's chief nuclear negotiator made the comments in Beijing, after talks aimed at restarting six-nation disarmament negotiations ended without apparent major progress.   

Kim Kye-Gwan was responding to a question on whether his country, which staged its first nuclear test on October 9, would be willing to give up its atomic weapons.   

"There are many commitments in the September 19 joint statement and at this stage, there won't be any unilateral abandonment (of nuclear weapons)," South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted Kim as saying.   

"The denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula was the wish by the Great Leader (Kim Il-Sung) and we are willing to implement our commitments made in the joint statement."   

In the statement, agreed at the six-party talks in September last year, the North agreed to scrap its nuclear weapons programmes in exchange for energy and economic aid and security guarantees.   

But it boycotted the forum two months later in protest at a US-inspired freeze on its overseas bank accounts.   

The North has agreed in principle to return to the six-party talks if the issue of the US financial curbs is settled. But the nuclear envoys meeting in Beijing this week failed to agree a firm date.   

The countries involved in the talks are the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.