Beijing, Apr 25: North Korean officials angrily denied US accusations that they might sell nuclear weapons to terrorists and offered to freeze a plutonium-based nuclear programme in exchange for aid, said an American researcher who visited the north. But the officials wouldn't confirm whether Pyongyang has a second, uranium-based weapons program - a key sticking point in talks with the United States and other governments, said Selig S. Harrison of the center for international policy in Washington. The comments, similar to previous North Korean offers, didn't appear to represent any new concession that might revive progress in the six-nation talks aimed at persuading the north to eliminate its nuclear programme. North Korean leaders criticised US Vice President Dick Cheney's suggestion during a visit to China this month that the north might sell weapons to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network or other terror groups, Harrison said yesterday.
Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun said North Koreans "denounce al-Qaeda," said Harrison, who returned from Pyongyang on yesterday en route to Washington.
"We are opposed to all types of terrorism and will never transfer our nuclear material to anyone else," he quoted Paek as saying. "Our nuclear program is solely for our own self-defense."
Harrison also met with Kim Yong Nam, Vice Foreign Minister and Lt. Gen. Ri Chan Bok, chief military liaison officer at the demilitarized zone on the border with South Korea. Bureau Report