North Korea wants big concessions from second-term US President George W. Bush before it will even discuss ending its nuclear weapons drive, a top Pyongyang envoy said in a report Friday. "Such discussions are possible only when we see evidence of a substantial change in the US policy towards North Korea," said Han Song-Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the United Nations, in an interview published here.
The liberal Hankyoreh newspaper said the comments were North Korea's first official reaction to the reelection of Republican Bush on Tuesday for a new four-year term.
However, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon cautioned that Han's comments may not fully reflect Pyongyang's policy towards the next US administration.
"I don't think his comment reflects North Korea's official position," he said in a KBS radio talk show.
Ban urged North Korea to return to the dialogue saying Washington would not adopt a tougher stand.
"There will be no major changes in US policy as (Bush) has maintained the principle of a peaceful settlement of the North Korean nuclear issue over the past four years," Ban said.
"I think the basic policy tone ... will continue as it is."
North Korea boycotted six-party talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States scheduled for September following three inconclusive earlier rounds.
Pyongyang watchers said the regime may have been awaiting the outcome of the November 2 US poll.
Since the nuclear stand-off erupted in October 2002 North Korea has repeatedly demanded an end to Washington's "hostile" policy towards the regime, as well as economic, political and other concessions.
Han indicated that those demands were unchanged and his country was not thinking of returning to the talks unless the Bush administration was prepared to meet them.
"We have never discussed with anyone the issue of holding six-party talks in November or at an early date," he said.
He warned that unless changes occurred, the standoff that has lasted more than two years would only get worse.
"We have already witnessed the Bush administration's North Korea policy," he said.
North Korea believes Bush may change course during his second term in office, Han said, adding any such shift had better be towards a more accommodating policy on North Korea.
"Otherwise there will be an unpredictable situation," he said.
The envoy said North Korea does not oppose the framework of six-party talks but was deeply suspicious of US motives.
"We suspect the United States has been using the six-way talks to earn time for its invasion of our country," he said, adding Washington's hostility had prompted Pyongyang to strengthen its "nuclear deterrent force".
The stand-off erupted in October 2002 when the United States said North Korea had acknowledged it was developing nuclear weapons through enriched uranium, violating a 1994 international agreement.
North Korea has since boasted openly of its plutonium-producing program at its Yongbyon complex, north of Pyongyang, but publicly denies any uranium-enriching activities.
It offered to freeze its Yongbyon complex in return for major concessions earlier this year, an offer Washington turned down.