US slaps new sanctions on North Korea

Talks aimed at ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons have been on hold since Pyongyang walked out of a multinational forum in 2009, but on a visit to China, the ailing Kim Jong-Il reportedly backed the resumption of negotiations.

Chinese television quoted Kim -- who reportedly returned home on Monday -- as saying Pyongyang's stance on ridding the peninsula of nuclear weapons was unchanged and the country "is not willing to see tensions on the peninsula".

Kim pledged to remain in close consultation with China and hoped for the "early resumption" of the six-party nuclear disarmament talks that also include South Korea, the United States, Japan and Russia, it said.

State media in China, North Korea's main ally and economic lifeline, called on the United States and its allies not to "bully" Pyongyang if they wanted to ease regional friction.

"Living in the shadows of South Korea, Japan and the U.S., North Korea has to wrap itself up tighter in order to fend off military threats, and threats of political and cultural infiltration," the Global Times said in a commentary.

"North Korea's opening-up will help relieve tensions in northeast Asia. But the knot does not only lie on the North's side. Other countries in the region must redouble their efforts to untangle the knot," said the Chinese paper.

"These three nations should not bully North Korea any more."

The North Korean leader rarely travels abroad but it was his second visit this year to China, also host of the six-party talks which began in 2003.

The North walked out in April 2009 and staged its second atomic weapons test a month later.

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