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News Stories - North Korea nuclear talks

South Korean officials say the North appears to be upping the ante in its confrontation with the United States. It's demanding fuel oil and an end to sanctions in exchange for a nuclear freeze. But the foreign minister, Yoon Young-kwan, said the proposal wasn't the North's final word. He said North Korea had recently become more positive about a deal and the United States was also being more flexible and constructive. The Bush administration initially refused to negotiate, saying the North Korean regime had to first scrap both its nuclear weapons programmes. But the US and its allies this week formally offered security guarantees to the north as the first step towards a settlement. Mr Yoon said it was too early to talk about economic aid but that could be addressed in later rounds.

South Korea has been pushing hard for a resumption of negotiations this month. There's concern that a further delay will cause a damaging loss of momentum. Chinese diplomats have been engaging in shuttle diplomacy to try to narrow the differences between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea claims to have reprocessed enough plutonium this year to make several atomic bombs.

- vocabulary:

upping the ante: increasing the level of demands; asking for more of something
sanctions: international restrictions that mean certain things cannot be sold to a particular country
a nuclear freeze: stopping the further development of nuclear weapons
final word: last offer
initially refused to negotiate: at first would not discuss
scrap: cancel

security guarantees: when one country says it will protect another country from attack

addressed: discussed and dealt with

loss of momentum: slowing down the speed of progress
shuttle diplomacy: when officials from a third country travel often between two other countries to try and help to solve a problem