Agence France Presse

Beijing, April 9:

North Korea has undergone a major policy shift in its approach to the six-party talks on its nuclear arsenal and will now dismantle its weapons only after the United States grants it full diplomatic relations, a leading North Korean expert said today. The new policy, instituted by hardliners in the Stalinist government, was detailed in talks in recent days between high level leaders like Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s number two leader, and Selig Harrison, head of the Asia Programme at the Washington-based Centre of International Policy, Harrison said. “North Korea is not prepared to discuss dismantling its nuclear weapons unitl the complete normalisation of all economic and diplomatic relations with the US.”