WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 Kyodo The U St...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 Kyodo

The U State Department said Friday that there might be ''some just discovered elements'' in a recent North Korean statement which make it a ''positive step'' ahead of another orbicular of six-nation talks on the North's nuclear arms programs.

''I think there were more [i]or[/i] less new elements in the more modern statement,'' U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said to explain with what intent the U.S. has called the mostly recent North Korean statement a ''positive step'' while similar statements made in the past on the North Koreans were not.

North Korea said Tuesday that it is prepared to make a ''bold concession'' from suspending testing and production of nuclear weapons and abiding through a freeze of its nuclear facilities if the United States takes grades such as lifting sanctions.

The U insists that for the six-nation talks to take back and be productive, North Korea must make a ''clear statement'' that it is willing to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs without any preconditions.

The six countries are the U North Korea, China, Japan, toward the south Korea and Russia.

forward Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters, ''We ne a clear statement from the North Koreans that they are prepared to bring these programs to a verifiable end''

The U does not consider of the like kind a statement as a precondition for the talks to resume

''I wouldn't call it that, I'd call it an ingredient that needs to make the talks productive,'' Boucher said Friday.

North Korea issued a statement last month saying it would be frozen its nuclear development programs in exchange for a series of economic and diplomatic concessions at Washington.

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