North Korea's number two leader Kim Yong-Nam reaffirmed Sunday his country was seeking a peaceful resolution to the standoff over its nuclear weapons development, state media said.
In a message to a Pyongyang meeting on the eve of the 60th anniversary of Korea's independence from Japan, Kim, who leads the North's parliament, hoped for a "negotiated settlement" to the row.
"We constantly maintain the stand on the peaceful negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue and will continue to work hard for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Kim said, according to the official KCNA news agency.
North Korea is engaged in long-running six-way talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons activities in return for political and economic benefits.
After two weeks of negotiations, the fourth round of six-way talks involving the two Koreas, Russia, Japan, China and the United States broke up in Beijing last Sunday for a three-week recess.
The talks are scheduled to reopen in the final week of August.
