North Korea might make nuke concession at talks - paper

TOKYO - A leading Japanese daily newspaper said on Sunday there were signs North Korea may propose scrapping its nuclear weapons program at multilateral talks in return for a security guarantee from the United States.

Quoting diplomatic sources in Beijing, the Mainichi Shimbun said North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il had expressed readiness to make a new proposal centred around scrapping its nuclear program. Kim had made the suggestion to Chinese officials during a visit to China from November 22 to 24.

The paper did not give any further details on what the proposal might contain.

On Friday, a South Korean government spokesman told reporters in Tokyo that North Korea was showing signs of abandoning its nuclear ambitions.

There has been a recent flurry of diplomatic activity from the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia to try to kick-start a fresh round of six-way talks on ending the crisis over the North's nuclear weapons program.

The next round of six-party talks is likely to be held in Beijing next month. Media reports say they will take place from December 17 to 19.

In an attempt to defuse the crisis, Washington said last month it was willing to give Pyongyang unspecified security assurances in exchange for the North ending its nuclear ambitions.

The nuclear crisis began in October 2002 when Washington said Pyongyang had admitted to having a covert weapons program despite having agreed earlier to freeze its atomic activities.

- REUTERS