Hopes revive for N Korea talks

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North Korea has shown "flexibility" during recent meetings on its nuclear ambitions, the South has said.

Seoul's foreign minister Song Min-soon indicated that Pyongyang may be willing to discuss scrapping its nuclear programme in exchange for aid.

His remarks follow a series of meetings aimed at reconvening six-party talks on the North's nuclear ambitions.

The talks are expected to take place in early February, but no exact date has yet been set.

Mr Song said that all nations involved in the negotiations had agreed on the need to take steps to implement a deal reached in September 2005, proposing to end the North's nuclear programmes in return for aid and security guarantees.

"There is consensus among all the participants that... they need to agree upon concrete measures to implement the first-stage phase of the 19 September agreement," Mr Song told reporters.

He added that North Korea had "shown a flexible position" on the subject.

There was initial optimism when the 2005 deal was agreed, but hopes of a breakthrough were soon dashed when North Korea refused to take part in further negotiations, partly in protest at US financial sanctions.

Even when the North finally came back to the negotiating table, in December last year, there was little progress.

'Positive atmosphere'

But now there seems to be renewed optimism. As well as Mr Song's comments, the usually defiant North has also sounded positive about the future.

After holding talks in Berlin last week with his US counterpart, Christopher Hill, North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan said the meeting had taken place "in a positive and sincere atmosphere, and a certain agreement was reached there".

His comments fuelled speculation that Washington may also be prepared to make concessions.

But Mr Song cautioned that there was still a long road ahead before the crisis was over.

"It is difficult for the participants to strike an agreement at one stroke that would include all the procedures for the North to dismantle nuclear programmes and for others to provide it with what it wants," he told reporters on Wednesday.