Pyongyang has responded to a US proposal to resume talks.
It has agreed to restart talks, as proposed by US president George W Bush, but has rejected the US agenda.
Washington wants the talks to be focused on North Korea's missile programme and its massive deployment of troops near the South Korean border.
But Pyongyang's foreign ministry says the talks should start with a discussion on US compensation for its alleged economic losses.
It expressed doubts over whether Washington truly wanted to improve ties with Pyongyang and accused US of "unilaterally" setting the agenda for the talks.
Pyongyang also said they would not discuss its conventional forces with the United States, till Washington withdraws its 37,000 troops from South Korea.
It wants the talks to focus on the alleged US failure to stick to a 1994 agreement, under which it has frozen its suspected nuclear weapons programme.
The agreement requires a US-led international consortium to provide North Korea two power-generating light-water nuclear reactors by 2003.
The US$4.6 billion project has been delayed due to financial, and other problems.
North Korea contends that the delay is resulting in huge electricity losses and is demanding compensation for it.
The United States has so far rejected the North Korean demand for compensation, arguing that the year 2003 stipulated in the 1994 agreement is a target, not a contractual date.
(Dragon.net 06/19/2001)
