North Korea ready to open weapons program dialogue

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea said Monday that it was willing to negotiate over its nuclear weapons program if the United States withdraws its "hostile policy" toward the communist country.\nThe comments by Kim Yong Nam, the North's ceremonial head of state, were unlikely to mollify the United States, which has said North Korea's nuclear program is a nonnegotiable issue and must be dismantled immediately.\nKim made the remarks in a meeting with South Korean delegates in Pyongyang, the North's capital, according to South Korean pool reports.\nThe comments were the North's first official response to a U.S. announcement last week that the communist country had admitted to having a nuclear weapons program in violation of international agreements.\n"We consider the recent situation seriously," pool reports quoted Kim as telling the chief South Korean delegate, Jeong Se-hyun. "If the United States is willing to withdraw its hostile policy toward the North, the North also is ready to resolve security concerns through dialogue."\nNorth Korea has repeatedly accused the United States of plotting to overthrow its government, and has long called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.\nIn Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush was "concerned" by the North's admission to having the weapons program.\n"The president is concerned about this revelation and the fact that North Korea is pursuing a program in violation of their given word and in violation of an agreed framework that North Korea committed itself to," Fleischer said Monday. "And it is a source of concern, and we continue the talk with our allies in the region about it."\nSouth Korean President Kim Dae-jung, whose policy of engaging North Korea is under severe pressure because of the revelation about the nuclear program, said the South's national security was at stake.\n"The danger of North Korea's nuclear weapons development and other weapons of mass destruction should be eliminated completely," Kim said in Seoul.\nThe meeting with Kim Yong Nam took place before the two sides reconvened another round of talks. After receiving five South Korean delegates as a group, the leader met the chief South Korean delegate privately for 50 minutes, according to reports by South Korean journalists.\n"Both sides were in agreement that the issues raised recently should be resolved expeditiously through dialogue," the reports quoted Rhee Bong-jo, a South Korean spokesman, as saying.