XIANGGANG (HONG KONG). April 8 (Interfax-China) - North Korea could agree to hold another round of six-nation talks on its nuclear problem in the middle of 2005, possibly in late May or June, a credible North Korean diplomatic source told Interfax on Friday.
The source did not specify whether North Korea could give its consent to resume the talks by this time or whether the negotiations themselves could start then.
"The latest developments show that, provided certain conditions are observed, we might agree to resume the negotiations, especially taking into account that these conditions are not excessive or unrealizable," the source said.
A high-ranking North Korean Foreign Ministry official formulated and explained these conditions to China during a confidential visit to Beijing in April, the source said.
"In its well-known statement on the need to turn the six-nation talks into talks on weapons reduction, Pyongyang made it clear that this primarily concerns the removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from South Korea and Japan," the source said.
Once it obtains consent from the U.S. to discuss this problem during the six-nation talks, North Korea "will be willing to return to the negotiating table and discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula on equal terms," he said.
In Pyongyang's view, "settling the problem of the withdrawal of American nuclear weapons from South Korea and Japan complies with the primary goal of the six-nation talks - the denuclearization of the peninsula and the achievement of stability, peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region," he said.
"This condition of North Korea does not concern the global process of nuclear disarmament and does not mean a demand that China, Russia, and the U.S. abandon their possession of nuclear weapons," the source said.
At the same time, "even if the negotiating process is resumed, no positive decisions should be expected soon," the source said.
"In the new circumstances, the atmosphere at the negotiations will be even more complicated and tense than before, when all problems could have been resolved quite easily had the U.S. displayed goodwill," the source said.