North Korea restated yesterday its demand for a non-aggression treaty with the United States, resurrecting the communist state?s old terms for resolving the nuclear crisis amid growing expectations of multilateral talks. ?If the United States dropped its hostile policy toward the DPRK (North Korea) and legally committed itself to non-aggression, the latter would be ready to dispel the US concern,? said the state-run KCNA news agency. The KCNA commentary came shortly after a South Korean newspaper reported that nuclear crisis talks between North Korea, the United States and China are likely to be held on September 6 in the Chinese capital, Beijing. The mainstream Korea Times quoted anonymous sources as saying an announcement would be made this week. A South Korean government official said Seoul was unaware of any schedule for a second round of nuclear talks following a meeting of US, North Korean and Chinese officials in April in Beijing. But Seoul has been encouraged after a flurry of diplomatic efforts by China, which sent a senior envoy to Moscow, Pyongyang and Washington this month to try to build momentum for talks to defuse Northeast Asia?s biggest security threat. China has floated new talks formats to try to bridge the gap between mutually distrustful parties. Pyongyang demands bilateral talks with Washington, while the United States says only multilateral pressure can make a deal with the North stick. The KCNA commentary resurrected the non-aggression pact demand that North Korea first made in October, days after the nuclear row erupted when US officials said the North had acknowledged it had a covert atomic programme. An editorial in Rodong Sinmun, the North?s ruling party daily, insisting on the need for a treaty said: ?Whether the nuclear issue between the two countries is settled in a peaceful way or by war depends on the US action.?

Paul Eckert