North Korea proposes an end to nuclear activities, China says

North Korea wants concessions for ending its program.
BEIJING (AP) -- North Korea proposed today "the comprehensive stopping of nuclear activities," a Chinese government spokesman said. He said the details were still being discussed among the six nations meeting in the Chinese capital.
The apparent progress came a day after South Korea offered the North a conditional compensation package that officials said included energy aid for the power-starved country.
The development, in the middle of delicate talks about the North's nuclear ambitions, appeared to be the most significant breakthrough since the stalemate between Washington and Pyongyang began in October 2002. Russia said, however, that a "gap" remained before the standoff could be solved fully.
"The various parties welcomed the proposition from the North Korean side for the comprehensive stopping of nuclear activities," Chinese spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a briefing.
"As for the details and specific arrangements for stopping the nuclear activities, it is still being discussed among the various parties," he said.
His comments came just after the official Xinhua News Agency cited Alexander Losyukov, head of the Russian delegation and his country's deputy foreign minister, as saying North Korea showed "readiness" to abolish its nuclear weapons program.
Russian report
According to Losyukov, the North would retain its nuclear program related to "peaceful purpose," Xinhua said. That's a major step but one somewhat less than what China described.
Losyukov said verification was a key part of the discussions.
"No one will agree to move forward without inspections. Such an approach is quite justified," he said at a news conference.
He added that disagreements still remain between Washington and Pyongyang over exactly what will be eliminated. "A gap remains," Losyukov said. "We have certain doubts that it will be possible to remove it during this session of talks."
The announcement came during a second round of Beijing-based talks on the North's nuclear program. Participating in the talks are the Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
The United States has demanded an immediate dismantling of the North's nuclear program. Pyongyang demands aid and security guarantees before it begins to do so -- a position backed by China, which has always included the North's security in the equation.
Liu said China "agreed with North Korea's requirement for reasonable security guarantees and to give North Korea a normal development environment."
A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Beijing said he had no information.
Meetings
The second day of meetings followed a rare, lengthy one-on-one session Wednesday between high-level officials from Washington and Pyongyang -- the two key players in the dispute.
Neither side gave details of the meeting between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, but the State Department described it as "useful."
North Korea and the United States have been at odds over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions for years and especially since October 2002, when Kelly said the North told him it had a secret weapons program based on enriched uranium.
North Korea publicly denies it has a uranium program in addition to its known plutonium-based program, but it brandishes the threat of what it vaguely describes as its "nuclear deterrent" in an effort to extract concessions.
What it wants
The impoverished North wants aid in return for halting its nuclear programs, and in December demanded economic aid and other U.S. concessions in return for a freeze. Washington said that Pyongyang must not only freeze, but start dismantling, its nuclear programs first.
North Korea also wants a nonaggression treaty with the United States or at least a security guarantee from all five of its negotiating partners. During the opening of talks Wednesday, Kelly said the United States has "no intention of invading or attacking" the country, he said.
This week's meeting is the second round of six-party talks. The first one in August, scheduled for three days only, yielded little more than a vague promise to meet again. Parties have made this meeting open-ended, hoping for more progress.
"I think it's realistic optimism," said Bill Tow, a professor of international relations at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. "They wouldn't have come together at this juncture unless they felt there was a reasonable chance there might be some progress made."