N. Korea rejects U.S. demands to scrap nuke program

MOSCOW -- Keeping up its bellicose rhetoric, North Korea on Monday dismissed U.S. demands that the communist nation scrap its nuclear program as "a game even kids won't play."

North Korea took an angry, hard-line stance following last week's landmark talks in Beijing with the United States, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia about its nuclear programs.

"Despite our goodwill and generosity, the United States has shown no readiness to drop its hostile policy toward the DPRK during the latest talks and blatantly put forward new gang-style demands," the Foreign Ministry said Monday in a statement from its Moscow embassy, according to the Interfax news agency.

"That means ... they promise not to shoot and we are supposed to lay down weapons first," the North Korean statement said.

"It's a game even kids won't play."

North Korea says the United States must first provide security and aid guarantees before it will consider abandoning its nuclear programs.

More concessions

North Korea on Saturday said there was no need for more talks -- a move South Korea called a ploy for more concessions.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Monday in a phone call to keep pushing for more six-nation talks to end the nuclear standoff, the Kyodo News reported from Toyko.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, who represented Russia during Beijing's talks, said the six nations had reached a tentative agreement to meet again in October or November, but added that "each country wanted to assess the results before making a decision on the next round," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Monday.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been high since October, when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted running a nuclear program in violation of international agreements.