N Korea says peace treaty key to nuke issue

‘‘’Replacing the ceasefire mechanism by a peace mechanism on the Korean peninsula would lead to putting an end to the hostile US policy toward the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), which spawned the nuclear issue and the former’s nuclear threat,’’ the spokesman said.

He said this would ‘‘automatically result in the denuclearisation of the peninsula’’.

The 1950-1953 Korean War ended inconclusively with a truce, leaving the belligerents still formally at war.

The main countries involved—the US, China and North and South Korea—last held talks on a peace treaty in Geneva in late 1997. They made almost no progress after North Korea said it could not reach a deal until US troops were removed from the peninsula.

US officials have said they want North Korea to respond to an offer of a security guarantee and energy aid made at the last round of the six-party nuclear talks in June 2004, which the North has subsequently boycotted.

The other participants are South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia.

On Thursday, Chinese media reported that North Korea was willing to resolve the nuclear crisis and that normalising relations with Washington was key to a deal.

On Friday, South and North Korea took a step towards better bilateral ties when they opened the first private phone line in 60 years linking Pyongyang to Seoul.

The line will allow families separated by the Korean war to conduct video reunions. Seoul and Pyongyang have also recently reached bilateral agreements on mining rights, factory development and steps to ease military tensions along the border.

—Reuters