S. Korea Says North Showing Flexibility

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea had been showing "flexibility" in meetings on its nuclear program, South Korea's foreign minister said Wednesday, the latest indication that progress may be made when international arms talks resume.

"South Korea and the United States have presented a proactive proposal aimed at implementing the Sept. 19 agreement and North Korea is showing flexibility on this," Song Min-soon told reporters, referring to a September 2005 agreement in which the North pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

Song declined to elaborate on details of the proposal, saying negotiations were still under way.

His remarks come after a series of meetings between the countries involved in the nuclear talks - China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas - aimed at setting a date for their resumption. The last round in December failed to yield any breakthroughs, and diplomats say the next session is expected before mid-February.

At the last six-nation talks, North Korea refused to address its disarmament and instead repeated demands for Washington to desist from a campaign to isolate Pyongyang from the international financial system for its alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.

However, even the North has sounded optimistic about future nuclear talks, with its main negotiator Kim Kye Gwan reportedly hinting in Beijing on Tuesday that Pyongyang could change its position.

Asked to describe his feelings about a meeting last week in Germany with American nuclear envoy U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Kim said: "I am satisfied," South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. He also described a change in the U.S. attitude as "positive," but did not give details.

The North's Foreign Ministry has said without elaborating that the meeting in Germany produced an agreement.

North Korea tested its first-ever nuclear bomb in October, adding urgency to the six-nation talks that have been held since 2003 without yielding any progress on disarming the communist nation.