North Korea's Kim Willing to Hold Nuclear Talks

Chinese state media are reporting North Korean leader Kim Jong Il says he is willing to participate in both bilateral and multilateral talks on his country's controversial nuclear program.

China's official Xinhua news agency says Kim told visiting Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo on Friday the North would continue to pursue the goal of "denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula.

Xinhua says Kim told the envoy his country is willing to resolve relevant problems through bilateral and multilateral talks.

Dai traveled to North Korea this week as a special envoy for Chinese President Hu Jintao.

China is North Korea's principal ally and has hosted the six-nation disarmament talks since 2003.

The comments, if accurate as reported, are the first explicit sign in months that North Korea is willing to resume diplomacy aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programs.

South Korean officials caution against interpreting Mr. Kim's reported comments as a positive sign and suggest Pyongyang has other ideas.

Speaking with business leaders in Seoul on Friday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says North Korea wants to use its nuclear weapons to engage the United States in arms reduction talks - a proposition Washington is unwilling to accept.

Washington has ruled out such talks, which would implicitly recognize North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.  The United States and its regional partners say they will accept nothing less than a complete and verifiable end to North Korea's nuclear arms capabilities.

North Korea pulled out of the six-nation talks in April after the international community criticized its launch of a rocket other nations suspected was a test of long-range missile technology.

Since then, the North has insisted it only wants direct talks with the United States. Washington is open to the possibility and says direct talks with Pyongyang could help get the North to return to the six-nation talks.