Nuclear-free area is goal for N. Korea, leader says

BEIJING — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a visiting Chinese diplomat Wednesday that his country seeks a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xinhua also paraphrased Kim as saying he hoped six-party international talks could be an important platform for realizing that goal. A new round of talks — involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan — are expected to begin in Beijing the week of July 25.

Kim made his remarks to Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, who is on a diplomatic mission to the North as a representative of President Hu Jintao, Xinhua said.

North Korea "expects the next round of the talks to be held on time and make positive progress," Kim was quoted as saying.

He also thanked China for its "unremitting efforts toward the resumption of the six-party talks," Xinhua said, paraphrasing the reclusive leader.

China, the North's last major ally, has campaigned hard over the past year to restart the disarmament negotiations. Beijing is believed to supply North Korea with up to one-third of its food and one-quarter of its energy needs.

The report came after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised a South Korean energy aid proposal that enticed North Korea to end its 13-month boycott of the disarmament talks and expressed hope for an end to the international standoff.

The United States and South Korea are "very optimistic that our joint efforts to improve the security situation on the Korean Peninsula could indeed bear fruit, although of course there is still much work to be done," Rice said during a visit to Seoul, South Korea.

North Korea said over the weekend it would return to the nuclear talks after being reassured by the top U.S. nuclear envoy that Washington recognized Pyongyang's sovereignty. The North has stayed away from the weapons negotiations since June 2004, citing "hostile" U.S. policies.

A top Russian diplomat expressed optimism about the upcoming six-party talks.

"We fully expect a degree of progress and a step forward, compared to the agreements reached in previous meetings," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev told the Interfax news agency in an interview.

Alexeyev also said Moscow had argued for offering security guarantees to the isolated regime in Pyongyang to persuade it to give up its nuclear weapons program, according to separate comments reported by ITAR-Tass.