North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said on Friday his country was willing to end its yearlong boycott of stalled six-party nuclear talks and return to the negotiating table in July if the United States showed it respect, Reuters reported. Kim said the communist state, which fears the United States plans to invade it and declared in February it possessed nuclear weapons, was willing to "give up everything" if it received security guarantees. "If we have security guarantees, there is no reason to have a single nuclear weapon," South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who met Kim in the North Korean capital Pyongyang Friday, quoted him as saying. "He said if the United States firmly recognizes North Korea as a partner and respects it, North Korea can return to six-party talks, even in July," said Chung on his return home. The North had never rejected or given up on the talks, it simply wanted to "stand up against the United States because it looked down on us," Chung said. --More 0002 Local Time 2102 GMT
