BBC NEWS

Scepticism over N Korea's talks offer

By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

North Korea's offer to return to talks about its nuclear programme has been met with scepticism by regional and Western experts.

---

The offer - to talk to the US bilaterally first before possibly rejoining the six-party talks it renounced earlier this year - came during a visit by the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

The suspicion is that Mr Wen twisted the arm of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

"There is no doubt that Wen delivered a very clear-cut message. China wanted to give a push," said Zhu Feng, professor of international security at Peking University.

"The key question is not just how to bring them back to the negotiating table but also how to change their behaviour," he told Reuters news agency.