Pyongyang will freeze its nuclear program only after the United States provides energy aid equivalent of 2 million kwt, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s Ambassador to Russia Pak Ui Chun said in Moscow Wednesday.

Before Pyongyang starts freezing its nuclear program, the United States "must provide our country with compensatory energy assistance in the amount equivalent to 2 million kwt, remove the DPRK from the list of countries supporting terrorism, and also lift sanctions and the economic blockade from our country," Pak UiChun was cited by the Interfax news agency as saying.

"The freeze will begin when the granting of compensations begins," the ambassador noted.

Pak Ui Chun would not say whether the DPRK might rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which it abandoned in January 2003 after Washington accused Pyongyang of secretly running a nuclear program in violation of the 1994 Agreed Framework.

A third round of talks on the Korean nuclear crisis closed Saturday, with participants from the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, China and the United States agreed to meet again by September.

Source: Xinhua