The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is ready to return to international disarmament talks, but that will depend on progress in its two-way negotiations with Washington, DPRK top leader Kim Jong-il said.

He made the remarks when meeting visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday evening.

It was so far the clearest sign yet that Pyongyang was considering returning to the six-nation talks it withdrew from after conducting a second nuclear test since late 2006 in May.

"The hostile relations between the DPRK and the United States should be converted into peaceful ties through the bilateral talks without fail," Pyongyang's KCNA news agency quoted Kim as saying during a meeting with Wen.

The KCNA said Kim told Wen that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula remained a goal.

Realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula was the instruction of the late DPRK leader Kim Il-sung, and the DPRK's commitment to realizing the denuclearization of the Peninsula remains unchanged, Kim said.

He said the DPRK "is willing to attend multilateral talks, including the Six-Party Talks, depending on the progress in its talks with the US," Xinhua reported early yesterday.

Wen yesterday wrapped up the three-day DPRK visit - the first in 18 years by a Chinese premier.

Wen said China appreciated the DPRK's commitment to a nuclear-free Peninsula and multilateral dialogues, including the Six-Party Talks, to realize this goal.

He said Beijing is willing to make "concerted efforts with the DPRK and other parties concerned" to contribute to realizing the denuclearization of the Peninsula.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said yesterday that China has always encouraged the DPRK and the US to conduct bilateral talks to build understanding and trust.

"But all parties concerned must stick to the six-nation process and work together for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks".

The DPRK has been moderating its tone in recent weeks, signaling its willingness to resume a dialogue with the US, China and other partners.

"There is no doubt that Wen delivered a very clear cut message. China wanted to give a push, which has been fruitful so far," said Zhu Feng, a professor of international security at Peking University.

The DPRK "wants sanctions removed," said Cho Min of the Korea Institute of National Unification.

"What the US wants is some assurance about proliferation, because the US doesn't really care about restoration of an obsolete nuclear plant or how much nuclear material the North (DPRK) has got," Cho said.

He said the focus was now on whether Washington sends an official, possibly special envoy Stephen Bosworth, to the DPRK.

US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Washington was aware of reports that the DPRK would reconsider opening talks, but he added that Washington had not received details about the meeting from the Chinese.

"We've talked to our Chinese partners in the Six-Party Talks, and we're conducting close coordination with China and the other partners in the talks," Kelly said.

"We, of course, encourage any kind of dialogue that would help lead to our ultimate goal that's shared by all the partners in the Six-Party Talks, which is the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he said.

Under the six-nation talks, the DPRK had agreed in 2007 to disable its nuclear facilities in return for international aid.

In June 2008, the DPRK blew up the cooling tower at its main nuclear complex near Pyongyang as a show of its commitment to denuclearization. But the disabling of its nuclear facilities came to a halt later in 2008 as Pyongyang wrangled with Washington over how to verify its past atomic activities.

The DPRK said last month that the government had informed the UN Security Council it was in the final stages of enriching uranium.