North Korea Demands End to Sanctions As Nuclear Talks Resume

North Korea will not dismantle its atomic weapons program until sanctions are lifted and it is provided with a new nuclear reactor, the country's negotiators insisted today at the opening of a new round of six-nation arms talks.

The talks resumed in Beijing after a 13-month boycott by Pyongyang, which recently staged its first nuclear bomb test and trial of a long-range missile following a financial crackdown on its overseas bank accounts by the US.

A resolution to one of the world's last cold war conflicts appeared a distant prospect on an opening day in which the two sides appeared as far apart as ever. North Korea used the first session to outline a list of demands, including the ending of UN sanctions and US financial restrictions, as well as the provision of a reactor capable of generating electricity for the energy starved nation.

US envoy Christopher Hill warned that Washington's patience had "reached its limits", but he and representatives of the other four nations - South Korea, China, Japan and Russia - said they would try to build on a September 2005 agreement, under which the international community would provide security guarantees and economic aid in return for the scrapping of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

"North Korea has listed the maximum demands it can make in its speech," a South Korean official told reporters, describing the North's strategy as a "department store approach".