A Foreign Ministry spokesman for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)said here Saturday that the United States showed no intention at the six-party talks to improve ties with and shift policies toward Pyongyang;instead,Washington wanted to render it a venue for disarming the DPRK.

In an interview with the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA),thespokesman said that at the talks in Beijing on August 27-29,the DPRK,proceeding from its principled stand to fundamentally settlethe nuclear issue,proposed a reasonable package solution,but theUnited States raised demands and conditions that were worse than "(demanding the DPRK)to give up its nuclear program first."

The spokesman said the US side asserted that it can discuss theissue of the DPRK's concerns only when it takes a practical actionto physically dismantle the "nuclear program"in a verifiable and irreversible manner.

According to the spokesman,during the bilateral contacts between the DPRK and the United States on the sidelines of the six-way talks,the United States also flatly rejected a package solution and the order of simultaneous actions proposed by the DPRK to attain its goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula;the US side insisted that,in order to normalize bilateral relations,such issues as missiles,conventional weapons and humanrights should also be discussed even after the DPRK gives up its "nuclear program."

The spokesman noted "what we want is for both sides to drop guns at the same time and coexist peacefully.""However,the United States wants us to lay down our arms first,"the spokesman said.

"This only convinced the DPRK of the fact that the United States has neither willingness to improve relations with the DPRK nor any intention to make a switchover in its policy toward the DPRK and does not want to coexist with the DPRK in peace but seeksits invariable sinister aim to totally disarm the DPRK at any cost,"the KCNA quoted the spokesman as saying.