Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea plans to continue its nuclear-weapons program unless the U.S. ends ``hostilities'' and lifts sanctions, the country's chief negotiator said upon landing in Beijing today for six-nation talks on the issue.

``We will not give up on our nuclear deterrent until U.S. ceases hostilities,'' said Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's vice foreign minister, as he arrived at Beijing International Capital Airport. ``That includes the financial sanctions.''

Formal talks, which resume on Dec. 18 in China's capital, will be the first discussions with all six nations present in more than a year. North Korea's nuclear test on Oct. 9 added to tensions in Asia and brought to a head a crisis that's simmered since Kim Jong Il's government boycotted the forum.

The talks, hosted by China's foreign ministry, bring the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Russia to Beijing for the sixth time. South Korea's delegation, including chief negotiator Chun Yung Woo, arrived in Beijing today.

``The situation has worsened in the last 13 months so I think the talks will be difficult,'' Chun told reporters. ``Still, there is the Sept. 19 statement which we will work toward, and I think the participants should show a strategic decision to try to form a consensus during these talks.''

Christopher Hill

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill arrived in Tokyo today to meet with Kenichiro Sasae, his Japanese counterpart, for talks before arriving in Beijing tomorrow.

Hill will meet Kim tomorrow, Agence France-Presse cited the U.S. envoy as telling reporters at Narita International Airport near Tokyo.

The disarmament talks may not yield results because both sides have given little indication they are prepared to offer concessions, an analyst said.

``It'll all come down to Democratic People's Republic of Korea wanting security guarantees in exchange for giving up their nuclear program and Americans moving away from a hard line,'' Paul French, Shanghai-based author of ``North Korea: Paranoid Peninsula,'' said in a phone interview yesterday. ``It depends on what Chris Hill says. If Hill insists on a hard line, we're not going anywhere.''

The communist nation agreed on Nov. 1 to return to the nuclear talks on condition they will be able to resolve the issue of U.S. financial sanctions imposed because of allegations of money laundering and counterfeiting by North Korean companies.

United Nations Sanctions

The United Nations on Oct. 14 imposed sanctions on North Korea barring the sale of most military equipment, luxury goods and other items. The U.S. financial sanctions are separate from the UN restrictions, which are binding on all member states.

North Korea may have produced as many as six nuclear weapons from spent reactor fuel, U.S. officials estimated in 2004, according to a Congressional Research Service report on its atomic arms program dated May 25. The Institute for Science and International Security said in a June 26 report that North Korea may have enough plutonium to make as many as 13 nuclear weapons.

The U.S. government has said it wants a declaration issued in September 2005 by the six nations stating that the Korean peninsula should be free of nuclear weapons to be the starting point when discussions resume.

``We are ready to discuss the implementation of the pledges made in the Sept. 19, 2005 agreement,'' Kim said today. ``But the U.S. must first lift its sanctions against us. It is still too early to be optimistic about the six-party talks at this time.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Allen T. Cheng in Beijing at acheng13@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 16, 2006 05:08 EST