North Korea said US made aid, sanctions offer for nuke concessions

Jan 11, 2012, 10:12 GMT

Seoul - The United States offered to suspend sanctions and restart shipments of food aid to North Korea if Pyongyang halted its uranium enrichment, North Korea said Wednesday in its state media.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying Washington had dramatically changed its offer of more than 300,000 tons of food aid made last year, causing North Korea to question its commitment to a deal.

But the spokesman indicated Pyongyang remained open to negotiations, saying, 'We will watch to see if the US truly wants to build confidence.'

The report was released after a deal appeared to be imminent shortly before North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's death on December 17. Under such an agreement, North Korea would break off its uranium enrichment in return for US food aid, media reports said last month, citing unnamed officials with knowledge of the negotiations.

The offer the Foreign Ministry spokesman spoke of in Wednesday's report was made in July, he said.

It was the first comment North Korea has made directly about the United States since Kim's death.

Washington halted food aid to impoverished North Korea in 2009.

The US, which has about 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea to guard against North Korean aggression, has imposed sanctions on Pyongyang mainly for its nuclear programme and weapons proliferation.

Other nations, such as Japan, and the United Nations also have imposed sanctions on it.

The US had insisted that North Korea halt its uranium enrichment to show its sincerity towards denuclearization before six-nation talks could resume on its nuclear programme. The talks, aimed at ending its nuclear ambitions, involve North and South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia. They have been stalled since 2008.

Highly enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear weapons.

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