Beijing, Nov 19: China today said that the issue of North Korea's alleged possession of nuclear weapons should be settled through dialogue, but avoided further comment.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan reiterated China's longstanding position when asked to react to a "clarification" of an apparent admission by North Korea that it possessed nuclear weapons.

"As for the position of China on the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula, we have made it clear since the beginning.
We first advocate a nuclear-free peninsula. Secondly we are against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Kong told a regular news briefing.
"We call on the relevant sides to solve the problem through dialogue with the final objective of maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula."



On Sunday, Radio Pyongyang ran a commentary which appeared to acknowledge for the first time the Stalinist state possessed nuclear weapons.



The following day the same commentary was re-broadcast and the key phrase was modified to say North Korea was "entitled" to have, rather than "had come to have" nuclear weapons.



Beijing has maintained that it has no knowledge of North Korea's alleged nuclear programme since Washington revealed last month that Pyongyang had admitted it has a secret program to develop nuclear weapons.



China has angrily rejected as "totally groundless" questions about whether it might have provided raw materials allowing North Korea to produce nuclear weapons.



Bureau Report