Russia says North Korea ready to impose moratorium on WMD tests

(ATTN: RECASTS throughout with comment by Russian official)
ULAN-UDE, Russia, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is ready to impose a moratorium on tests of weapons of mass destruction and resume long-stalled talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs, an official said Wednesday.
The conciliatory comment came during rare summit talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a military base on the outskirts of the eastern Siberian city of Ulan-Ude, Russian presidential spokeswoman Nataliya Timakova said.
The development represents the latest progress in a flurry of diplomatic efforts to coax the North to give up its nuclear weapons programs in return for aid and diplomatic concessions.
The moratorium, if put in place, means that the North would not carry out any further nuclear and missile tests that have long been a cause for concern in the region.
The communist country has a track record of alternately using provocations and dialogue with South Korea, the United States and other regional powers to try to wrest concessions before backtracking on agreements and quitting the nuclear talks.
The North quit the disarmament-for-aid talks in 2009 and subsequently conducted its second nuclear test in defiance of international warnings. It also raised tensions by torpedoing a South Korean warship and shelling a South Korean border island last year.
Still, the North has repeatedly expressed its interest in rejoining the nuclear talks that involve South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan. In July, the North's diplomats met with their U.S. counterparts in New York to discuss the matter.
Seoul and Washington have called on Pyongyang to demonstrate its denuclearization commitment before returning to the six-party talks. Seoul also urged Pyongyang to take responsibility for its two deadly attacks on the South last year.
South Korea's chief nuclear envoy, Wi Sung-lac, plans to leave for Beijing on Thursday for one-day talks with his Chinese counterpart to discuss how to move the nuclear talks forward.