Six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear arms program cannot restart this year or in the foreseeable future because of "unacceptable" US conditions, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a North Korean diplomatic source as saying today.
"The demands the United States put forward at consultations between the heads of delegations to the six-way talks .... which took place in Beijing on November 28 and 29, are unacceptable for North Korea," the agency quoted the source as saying.
"As a result, the renewal of the negotiation process in December 2006 is impossible, and - if there is no change in the United States' position - in the foreseeable future too."
Interfax quoted the unnamed source in a report datelined Hong Kong. Russian media are among the few with regular access to official circles in reclusive North Korea.
The talks have been stalled since Pyongyang walked out a year ago. South Korea, North Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the United States are the participants in the talks.
Since then the rogue state has conducted a nuclear test in a move which angered the US, Japan and Britain, and dismayed China, with whom North Korea has traditionally much closer ties.
