The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) wants a "words for words" commitment at the next round of six-party talks to start a first-phase action, a spokesman for the country's foreign ministry said in Pyongyang Tuesday.  

"Our stand is to agree upon the first-phase action by making 'words for words' commitment at the next round of the six-party talks at least," the spokesman told the official Korean Central News Agency.

The DPRK-proposed first-phase action includes measures to delist the country as a "terrorism sponsor," and to lift the political, economic and military sanctions and blockade.

Energy aid including the supply of heavy fuel oil and electricity by the United States and neighboring countries should be taken in exchange for the DPRK's freeze of nuclear activities, the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that the resumption of the talks in the future entirely depends on whether an agreement will be reached on its first-phase step or not.

At the end of last month, Russian officials said that the next round of the talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula may be held in mid-December.

US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said earlier that the United States favored December for the next round of the six-party talks, but denied the reports from Japanese and South Korean media saying it has been basically agreed upon that the next round of talks will be held on Dec. 17-19.

There were no dates decided at this point, Boucher added.

The six-party talks, which are attended by China, the DPRK, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, is a mechanism set to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.

The nuclear talks concluded its first round of meeting at the end of August. It was the first time that all the involving countries had sit around the table together to discuss a solution to the nuclear standoff since the issue surfaced late last year.

Although no important breakthrough was made in the first round of the talks, all the participants agreed to continue the multilateral negotiation with next round talks.

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2003)