North Korea called for an end of hostile relations with the United States in a New Year's message Friday and said it was committed to making the Korean peninsula nuclear-free through negotiations. Communist North Korea has long demanded that Washington end hostility toward its government, and said it developed nuclear weapons to deter a US attack. Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading the country. The New Year statement brightened prospects for North Korea to rejoin stalled international talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for aid and other concessions. Washington has sought to coax it to return to the talks, which also include South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. The North has often said it wants to replace a ceasefire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War with a peace treaty and forge diplomatic relations with the US as a way to win security guarantees – demands Washington says should be linked to North Korea's verifiable denuclearization. “The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship” between North Korea and the US, the North said in the New Year statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, state radio and television.
