North Korea says it is not afraid of war after nuclear impasse

North Korea's official media blamed the United States yesterday for an impasse in talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme and said it was not afraid of war.

Five days of talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US ended on Friday with the envoys failing even to agree a date for the next round.

The UN imposed sanctions on North Korea after it conducted its first nuclear test in October but North Korean officials had focused at the talks on trying to get separate US financial curbs lifted, envoys said.

North Korean delegate Kim Kye-gwan said Pyongyang had rejected pressure from the US to end its nuclear programme and accept inspections of its nuclear facilities.

"We decisively opposed this and told the US side to further study our proposal," Kim was quoted as saying. In a separate official report, North Korea said: "Sanctions and pressure will never work on the DPRK (North Korea)."

"The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK want peace but they are not afraid of war. They will never allow anyone to infringe upon the sovereignty and dignity of their country even a bit," the report on its KCNA news agency said.

In September 2005, North Korea said in principle it would give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for aid and security guarantees.