BEIJING - North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator has said he was ready to rejoin six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program at "any time," South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported from Beijing.

North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-Gwan, has said he was ready to rejoin six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program at "any time," South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported from Beijing.[AFP]

"We are ready to boldly participate in the talks at any time, as we have taken all the defensive measures through the nuclear test," Kim Kye-Gwan was quoted as saying.

Kim said he arrived at the "kind invitation" of US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, his counterpart in the negotiations which have been stalled for the past year.

"There are a lot of issues between North Korea and the United States," he said, adding that he would try to narrow the differences.

Hill is already in Beijing, along with the South Korean and Japanese lead delegates, to try to set a date for a resumption of the talks after Pyongyang stunned the world with its first ever nuclear weapons test on October 9.

The US State Department said Monday that Hill could meet Kim in Beijing.

The two diplomats met late last month at a meeting brokered by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and agreed to resume the six-party talks.

The setting, which groups the two Koreas, China, Russia, the United States and Japan, was launched in 2003 to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for energy and economic benefits and security guarantees.

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Discussions broke down a year ago when Pyongyang walked out in protest at US financial curbs on its overseas bank accounts.

The North said it would return to the forum on condition that the financial sanctions were "discussed and settled" within the framework of the six-party talks.

Hill said after arriving here Monday that he was hopeful the fully-fledged negotiations would resume soon. "The issue for us is to make sure we are extremely well planned for six-party talks, which we expect to get going again very soon," he said.