North Korea threatens to slow down nuclear disabling

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said all five countries negotiating with North Korea — Japan, Russia, China, the United States and South Korea — had agreed that future fuel shipments would not go forward until there was progress on a so-called verification protocol with Pyongyang.

North Korea’s nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan was quoted by Kyodo news agency as telling reporters in Beijing that Pyongyang would probably adjust the pace of disablement at nuclear facilities if (the aid) is suspended.

North Korea has been in negotiations with the United States over its nuclear arms programme for more than a decade and the issue took on extra urgency after Pyongyang held its first nuclear test explosion in October 2006.

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak condemned Pyongyang for its uncooperative attitude at the talks in Beijing, South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement.

Aso and Lee met in southern Japan on Saturday ahead of a rare trilateral summit with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at which the global financial crisis that is battering their economies topped the agenda.

In a trilateral statement at the talks, the three countries said the six-party talks remained an important mechanism for maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in North Asia at large.