The Stalinist state said it would return to six-nation nuclear crisis talks only after the United States met this demand.

"As the first step when we freeze our nuclear activity, the United Sates on its part must take reciprocal steps," a foreign ministry spokesman said through the North's official Korean Central News Agency monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The spokesman demanded the United States remove North Korea from a list of terrorism-sponsoring countries, lift "political, economic and military sanctions" and resume energy aid.

"It will totally depend on whether the first step proposed by our side would be agreed on for the six-party talks to resume," the spokesman added.

Washington, which has consistently demanded a verifiable end to North Korea's nuclear projects, is unlikely to be interested in the offer, according to analysts.

The North Korean demand came a day after a US-backed proposal for a resolution to the 14-month-old nuclear crisis was conveyed to Beijing to be passed on to Pyongyang for its consideration.

North Korea is included in an annual list produced by the US State Department identifying nations considered to be backers of terrorism.

Others on the list are Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria. Iraq was removed from the list this year.

Removal from the blacklist would free North Korea from crippling US sanctions and open the possibility of access to much-needed aid investment from multilateral institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The foreign ministry spokesman's statement added a new twist to efforts to bring North Korea to a new round of six-party talks aimed at ending the crisis.

"What is certain is that under any circumstances, we will never freeze our nuclear activity for free without any return," the spokesman said.

The statement suggested that the latest US proposal had little chance of coaxing Pyongyang to new talks, at least for now.

"It is unimaginable that we disarm ourselves, believing in a meek promise by the US," the statement said, apparently referring to its oft-stated demand for a written statement from the United States guaranteeing its security.

After an inconclusive first round of talks between the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia in Beijing in August, diplomatic efforts to end the crisis have focussed on bringing the Stalinist state to further talks in the Chinese capital.

Earlier Tuesday South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck said South Korea, Japan and the United States had agreed that if talks were to be held by the end of the year, they would have to be convened next week.

"The three countries have a position that it will be proper to have the talks in the week commencing December 15. Because of Christmas, that week is the only possible one for the talks (this year)," Lee said in a radio interview.

The latest US-backed plan to resolve the crisis is a counter-proposal to a North Korean plan rejected by the three allies last week.

The North Korean proposal "contains expressions and contents that we cannot accept," said Lee.

In recent weeks North Korea has been urging the United States to accept the principle of simultaneous action as a framework for resolving the stand-off.

Key points in its proposal include North Korean promises to renounce nuclear weapons development, to allow inspections, and eventually, to scrap its nuclear facilities. In return, Pyongyang wants rewards including a security guarantee, economic aid and diplomatic relations.

The US-backed counter-proposal focuses on "coordinated steps," according to a senior South Korean official who said the North Korean proposal was too favorable to the Stalinist regime.

Washington is maintaining a central demand that North Korea scrap its nuclear programs in a verifiable manner, as other "coordinated" steps, including the offer of a security guarantee, are made.

WAR.WIRE