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N.Korea: We won't return to talks under duress
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-08 16:11

North Korea cannot return to six-way talks on its nuclear programmes unless the United States ends its financial crack down on Pyongyang's assets, Yonhap news agency quoted a senior North Korean official as saying.

The comments from Ri Gun, North Korea's deputy chief envoy to the talks, reiterated rather than hardened North Korea's stance but came as pressure builds for Pyongyang to return to the table.

North Korea has previously said it would be unthinkable to do so unless Washington ends its crack down on firms it suspects of aiding Pyongyang in illicit activities such as counterfeiting that it says help fund the North's nuclear programmes.

"As long as pressure continues, our position remains unchanged that we can't return to the six-party talks," Yonhap quoted Ri as saying in New York on Tuesday.

A South Korean official in Seoul played down the remarks, which came after Ri met U.S. Treasury officials.

"We didn't think Ri would go over there and break up the field," the government official said by telephone.

U.S. President George W. Bush's former top Asia adviser took a similar line in assessing the latest twist. Financial markets watch North Korea developments but did not react unduly to Ri.

"If the North Koreans said they are not coming back, I'm sceptical," said Michael Green, now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

The New York meeting came as momentum was starting to build on a possible resumption of the talks among the two Koreas, host China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
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