Agence France-Presse,
BEIJING (AFP): North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il indicated on Tuesday that he was ready to begin dismantling his country's nuclear weapons, China's official news agency reported.
In rare conciliatory remarks the leader of the communist state raised hopes that a stalled nuclear pact will finally be realised.
“Recently some signs of easing on the Korean peninsula have appeared,” Kim was quoted by the Xinhua news agency as saying.
“All sides should implement the initial actions (of a six-nation pact on eradicating North Korea's nuclear capabilities)”, he said.
The comments, made during a meeting with visiting Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi, will strengthen hopes that the North will disarm.
Under the agreement struck in February, Pyongyang pledged to scrap its nuclear programmes in exchange for energy aid and various diplomatic incentives.
But implementation has been stalled by a financial dispute over millions of dollars of North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank due to US sanctions.
That obstacle was removed last week when the last of the funds were returned to Pyongyang.
In another hopeful sign, diplomatic sources in Berlin said on Tuesday that North Korea has agreed to broad cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog to close its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, the first step in the deal.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Pyongyang would shut down the Yongbyon reactor, provide a comprehensive list of nuclear facilities that have been sealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and grant an IAEA team access to the sites when they have been closed.
North Korea's government also agreed to help with surveillance of the plant, the core of its nuclear weapons drive.
China is North Korea's closest ally and the host of the intermittent six-party talks that struck the nuclear deal in February after several futile years trying to thwart North Korea's drive to develop nuclear arms.
Pyongyang detonated its first atomic device last October.
Yang arrived Monday amid hopes that Beijing would be able to get the reclusive Kim regime to start honouring its commitments.
United Nations nuclear inspectors and the US envoy to the six-party talks, Christopher Hill, visited Pyongyang last month, but they were not able to secure meetings with Kim.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said just before the meeting with Kim that Yang had planned to express his country's desire to see the accord fully implemented.
Kim thanked Yang for China's efforts, according to Xinhua.
“China has worked hard to help resolve the Korean peninsula nuclear issue. North Korea wishes to continue to strengthen communication and coordination on the issue,” it quoted Kim as saying.
Yang in turn passed on a personal message from Chinese President Hu Jintao lauding the two countries' ties and calling for an even closer relationship.
But China's Qin avoided any predictions as to when a fresh round of six-party talks would begin in Beijing.
US officials have said they could resume as as soon as early in July, but Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso said in Tokyo on Tuesday that it could be “a few more weeks” yet.
Under the February deal, the North must completely dismantle the reactor and come clean on all of its nuclear programmes, including an enriched uranium-based scheme which it has denied operating.
In return, Pyongyang will eventually receive energy aid equivalent to one million tons of heavy fuel oil.
