Report: N. Korea Won't Abandon Nukes

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill speaks to reporters at Beijing airport before departing Tuesday Nov. 21, 2006. Hill said disarmament talks on North Korea's nuclear program could resume in the middle of next month. Hill made the comments after he held more than five hours of meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, on Monday night and Tuesday. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) (Greg Baker - AP)

TOKYO -- A senior North Korean diplomat strongly indicated that his country has no plans to abandon nuclear weapons, despite its agreement to return to six-nation disarmament talks, according to news reports Wednesday.

North Korea's deputy foreign minister, Kang Sok Ju, speaking to a group of reporters while passing through Beijing from Russia, instead demanded that the United States lift financial sanctions against the North, Japan's NHK television and Kyodo News agency said.

Kang said North Korea had not tested nuclear weapons only to get rid of them, the reports said.

"Why would we abandon nuclear weapons?" NHK and Kyodo quoted Kang as saying in a Japanese translation of his comments in Korean. "Are you saying we conducted a nuclear test in order to abandon them?"

Asked if Pyongyang planned to demand the U.S. lift sanctions, Kang said, "of course," NHK and Kyodo reported.

A nuclear test by North Korea on Oct. 9 triggered international condemnation and sanctions.

In September 2005, Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid, but it withdrew from the talks with the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan and Russia two months later, protesting Washington's financial sanctions over suspected money laundering.

Pyongyang agreed this month to return to the talks, which may resume next month.