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DPRK says missile

talks with US

to continue

TOKYO: North Korea said on Tuesday that talks on its missile programme would continue with the United States.

The first round of negotiations between the two parties, held in Berlin at the weekend, were hailed as a "good beginning" by U.S. officials taking part.

Neither side has provided details on the progress of the talks.

"They discussed mainly the nonproliferation of missiles and other issues of common concern in a comprehensive way," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

"The negotiations will continue," said the report, which was monitored in Tokyo.

On Sunday, a North Korean official told reporters the next round of negotiations would be arranged through diplomatic channels at a later date.

Washington had said the talks in Berlin would focus solely on its worries about North Korea's development of long-range missiles and their sale to states such as Iran and Syria.

Missile sales are a major source of hard currency for North Korea, whose isolated government faces severe economic problems.

Some analysts fear that unless its exports are restrained, Pyongyang may begin selling longer-range missiles and associated production techniques that would enable other countries to build such missiles themselves.

North Korea deploys and exports the 300-km (200-mile) range Scud-B, and the 600-km (400-mile) range Scud-C, both upgraded versions of the Soviet-made Scud-B missile it first purchased from Egypt in the 1980s.

It tested its 1,000-km (600-mile) range Rodong I missile in 1993 and is developing more powerful missiles which would be able to strike targets in Northeast Asia, including Japan.-Reuter