End sanctions and let's sit for talks says N Korea

North Korea offered the United States and South Korea a list of conditions for talks, including the lifting of U.N. sanctions, signaling a possible end to weeks of warlike hostility on the Korean peninsula.

In a statement issued on Thursday, North Korea's top military body also said the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula would begin when the United States removed nuclear weapons that the isolated state says Washington has deployed in the region.

The move was likely a sop to the North's only major backer, China, which has signaled its growing unease over the escalation of threats.

"Dialogue and war cannot co-exist," the North's National Defense Commission said in the statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

"If the United States and the puppet South have the slightest desire to avoid the sledge-hammer blow of our army and the people ... and truly wish dialogue and negotiations, they must make the resolute decision," it said.

The United States has offered talks, but on the pre-condition that they lead to North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons ambitions.

North Korea deems its nuclear arms a "treasured sword" and has vowed never to give them up.

Nevertheless, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who ended a trip to the region early this week that was dominated by concern about North Korea, stressed his interest in a diplomatic solution.


/Reuters/