US President George W. Bush must drop his "hostile" policy towards North Korea during his second term in order to revive six-way nuclear talks, Pyongyang said in a statement monitored here Sunday. A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in the statement late Saturday that Washington should "opt for co-existence" with Pyongyang.
The North Korean call came as Bush is due to be sworn in for a second four-year term on January 20 with little progress made in his efforts to check Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
"We will closely follow what a Korea policy the second term Bush administration will shape and react to it," said the foreign ministry statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"The prospect of settling the nuclear issue between the DPRK (North Korea) and the US will entirely depend on the latter's attitude."
North Korea has been under growing pressure to return to the stalled six-nation negotiations which also include South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
North Korea boycotted a fourth round scheduled for Beijing in September, citing what it called a hostile US policy, after three rounds of talks.
The North's statement repeated that Washington should be blamed for the failures of previous talks due to its tough negotiation stance and a series of measures - including US military build-up in South Korea and a US human rights act - against Pyongyang.
"If the US truly wishes a negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue, it should rebuild the groundwork of the talks unilaterally destroyed by it and drop in practice its hostile policy aimed to 'bring down the system' in the DPRK and opt for co-existence with it, though belatedly," it said.
"This is the key to settling the issue." Tensions between North Korea and the United States have increased since a stand-off erupted in October 2002 over US accusations that Pyongyang had run a secret uranium-based nuclear weapons program.
North Korea has denied the US claims, but fired up a separate, mothballed plutonium-based nuclear program.
Analysts in Seoul Sunday took the latest North Korean statement as a positive sign that Pyongyang is willing to return to talks.
"It is one of the most reconciliatory statements the North Koreans have ever made on the United States and the nuclear issue," said Nam Sung-Wook, a Korea University professor specialising in North Korean affairs.
"They are sending a signal to the United States: I want to come back to six-way dialogue but need a face-saving excuse to do so with your help."
The North's statement coincided with a four-day trip to Pyongyang until Tuesday by US Congressman Tom Lantos for discussions with the Stalinist regime about its nuclear program.
Another US Congressman, Curt Weldon, is due to visit North Korea this week on a similar mission.