North Korea said yesterday it would attend a new round of six-party talks over its nuclear weapons programs in early November as agreed but questioned whether Washington was prepared to stick to a deal reached last month.

North Korea has agreed to dismantle its nuclear programs under the agreement reached with South Korea, the US, Japan, Russia and China in return for aid and better ties with Washington and Tokyo.

"It is our consistent and invariable stand to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through dialogue," a government spokesperson told North Korea's official KCNA news agency.

"We will, therefore, go to the fifth six-party talks at the date to be agreed upon early in November as the six parties had committed themselves to do so."

But he questioned whether the US held a similar commitment, saying recent behavior by Washington cast doubt on the spirit of the agreement, the spokesperson said.

"(The US) is staging a noisy campaign to pressurize North Korea, bringing utterly groundless charges such as human rights issue and illegal deal against it."

"We will hold the US accountable for this situation much more deplorable than what was before the publication of the statement and keep tabs on this at the forthcoming talks," the spokesperson said.

The North's pledge to resume negotiations confirmed New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's observation on Saturday upon his return from meetings with senior North Korean officials in Pyongyang that their commitment to the talks appeared genuine.

In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said his government had given Washington its ideas for a roadmap to take last month's nuclear deal from a joint statement to reality.

Ban told guests at a lunch to mark the 60th anniversary of the UN it was important for all parties in the talks on North Korea's nuclear programs to keep up the momentum and build confidence.

Japan, North Korea preparing talks

Japan and North Korea are making final preparations for an early-November resumption of bilateral talks, stalled since late last year, Kyodo news agency reported yesterday.

The two countries agreed late last month to reopen the talks to tackle a wide range of topics, including North Korea's nuclear weapons program and Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese citizens decades ago.

Kyodo quoted Japanese and North Korean sources as saying the two sides were involved in "final coordination" to hold the talks in Beijing early next month, although no dates were given.

Japan's top government spokesperson, Hiroyuki Hosoda, said no date had been set yet.

"We have been asking to hold talks and therefore we hope they will reply soon," Hosoda told reporters. "Basically, no matter when and where the talks will be held, we will welcome them."

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has twice visited North Korea in an effort to solve a bitter dispute over Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang's agents in the 1970s and 80s to help train spies.

North Korea has admitted abducting 13 people, five of whom have returned to Japan with their children. Pyongyang says the other eight are dead. Japan has been pressing for further information on the eight and another three who Tokyo says were also kidnapped.

(China Daily October 25, 2005)