Pak's comments came in talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in the Great Hall of the People, a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Beijing to pressure Pyongyang to return to the six party talks on a nuclear free Korean peninsula.

"Premier Pak Pong-Ju said... that North Korea's position on realising a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and resolving the nuclear issues through talks has not changed at all," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said after the talks.

"We are willing to make efforts to achieve this. The North Korea side does not oppose and has not given up on the six party talks," Liu quoted Pak as saying.

"In the days coming, if the conditions are ripe, North Korea hopes to participate in the talks at any time."

During her two-day visit, Rice told her Beijing hosts that Washington was considering "other options" if Pyongyang refused to negotiate.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Pak Tuesday that the nuclear talks should continue within the current six party framework, which also include South Korea, Japan and Russia, and urged all parties to show patience.

"The six party talks is the only pragmatic option currently to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula through dialogues and is in the interest of all parties," Wen was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.

"It should continue and we hope all sides would show flexibility, pragmatism and patience," Wen said.

Premier Pak Pong-Ju's six-day visit comes shortly after North Korea said it had increased its nuclear arsenal in preparation for a preemptive invasion by the United States.

"We have taken a serious measure by increasing nuclear arms in preparation for any invasions by enemies," Yonhap news agency quoted the North Korean Central Broadcasting Station as saying late Monday.

The report said joint US-South Korean military manoeuvres that started at the weekend were "a preparatory war against us".

Rice said in Beijing the US was ready to provide badly needed energy supplies to North Korea if it would agree verifiably to mothball its nuclear programs.

Pak will meet President Hu Jintao Wednesday afternoon.

China has prepared an elaborate schedule for Pak centered on the achievements of its 25 year-old experiment with market economic reforms and its integration into the global trading system.

Besides visiting a Nokia mobile phone plant at Beijing's Economic and Technological Zone on Tuesday, Pak was also scheduled to visit the Yanjing Brewery, one of China's most successful beer producers, on Wednesday.

Later in the week he visits the booming metropolis of Shanghai and the northeastern industrial city of Shenyang in Liaoning province, which borders North Korea.

"He has expressed an interest in visiting some of our economic projects and we are more than happy to show him," a Chinese foreign ministry official said.

"We think that if they can see the success that China has had in economic reform, then maybe that will help them with their reforms."

Pak's visit follows a secretive trip to China last April by both him and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. They toured the eastern seaport of Tianjin and visited a formerly impoverished village that quickly enriched itself following China's adoption of economic reforms.

The reclusive Kim also came to China in January 2001, when he toured Shanghai's stock exchange as his government announced its readiness to adopt Chinese-style economic reforms.

Despite such efforts, North Korea's economy is still plagued by bad planning, energy shortages and a series of natural disasters that have left it the biggest recipient of UN-channeled food aid.