Seoul: North Korea called for an end of hostile relations with the US in a New Year's message on Friday and said it was committed to making the Korean peninsula nuclear-free through negotiations.
Communist North Korea has long demanded that Washington end hostility toward its government, and said it developed nuclear weapons to deter a US attack. Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading the country.
The New Year statement brightened prospects for North Korea to rejoin stalled international talks on ending its nuclear weapons programmes in exchange for aid and other concessions. Washington has sought to coax it to return to the talks, which include South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.
The North has often said it wants to replace a cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War with a peace treaty and forge diplomatic relations with the US as a way to win security guarantees — demands Washington says should be linked to North Korea's verifiable denuclearisation.
Hostile relations
"The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship" between North Korea and the US, the North said in the New Year statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, state radio and television. North Korea's traditional New Year's Day statements are examined annually for clues to its policies.
This year's statement said it is committed to establishing "a lasting peace system on the Korean peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations."
The US and North Korea agreed on the need to resume the nuclear negotiations during a trip by President Barack Obama's special envoy to Pyongyang in December, but North Korea did not make a firm commitment on when it would rejoin the talks.
Envoy Stephen Bosworth said he conveyed a message from Obama underlining Washington's willingness to help bring the isolated country back into the international fold.
