China denies reports of North Korean apology for nuclear test

BEIJING (AP) - North Korea is not planning a second nuclear test and is willing to return to six-party talks under certain conditions, but warned that it would take action if it felt pressured, China's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan was told during meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and other officials in Pyongyang last week that the North currently has no plans to carry out a second nuclear test, said ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

"But if it faces pressure, North Korea reserves the right to take further actions," Liu said, citing Tang.

Despite the apparently conciliatory tone of the meeting, Liu said Kim did not apologize for his regime's nuclear test, as some South Korean media had reported.

"These reports are certainly not accurate," Liu said. "We haven't heard any information that Kim Jong Il apologized for the test."

Liu's comments were the fullest public account China has given of the Oct. 19 meeting that analysts and diplomats have called a critical opportunity for assessing North Korea's intentions.

North Korean officials told the Chinese envoy that they were willing to return to international negotiations on their nuclear program "but they want certain questions, including the matter of U.S. financial sanctions against it, resolved first," Liu said at a regular press briefing.

The U.S. has sought to cut off the North's access to international banking as punishment for alleged counterfeiting of U.S. dollars and other illicit activity. Pyongyang has denied the charges and boycotted six-country talks on its nuclear program until the U.S. ends the crackdown.

"All countries involved in the six-party talks believe that the talks should be resumed but of course the parties do not all agree on how," Liu said, referring to the negotiations Beijing has hosted since 2003. They involve China, the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, and Japan.

"Consultations are required to find a way acceptable to all," he said.

A second test has been widely believed to be a possibility. Earlier this month, U.S. media reported that Pyongyang may be preparing for another, citing suspicious activity at a suspected test site in the North's northeast.

But on Tuesday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported the U.S. military had detected no signs of preparations for a second atomic test. U.S. military officials gave that intelligence assessment to their South Korean counterparts during annual defence talks in Washington last week, Yonhap said, citing unidentified defence officials.

Officials at the Defence Ministry were not immediately available for comment.


Also Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon, the next UN secretary general and South Korea's foreign minister, said Seoul fully backs the UN sanctions imposed on the North as punishment for the nuclear test.

Ban said he plans to use his new position as UN chief, which he assumes starting next year, to seek a peaceful resolution of nuclear standoff.

South Korea has yet to outline any specific action it plans to take to enforce the sanctions. The U.S. has urged the South to join an anti-proliferation initiative, and to take steps for more accountability in joint economic projects with the North.

Ban, who was headed to Beijing for talks with Tang and other Chinese officials on Friday, said Seoul was still reviewing its policies "to bring them closer in line" with the UN measures.

© The Canadian Press, 2006