The other two points are that Japan will not loosen its sweeping sanctions on North Korea and that the six-way talks are only "a way to reach the objective of North Korea abandoning nuclear weapons," Aso said.

North Korea agreed on October 31 to return to the disarmament talks after a year-long gap, just weeks after carrying out its first nuclear test.

North Korea on Saturday urged Japan to stay away from the talks, calling its leaders "political imbeciles," after Aso made similar remarks saying Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal was not a fait accompli.

Burns called the North Korean statement "extraordinary" and said the United States believes Japan is "one of the most important partners" in the six-way talks.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also said Monday that Japan would take part in the talks.

"There is absolutely no change to Japan's stance," Abe told reporters.

Government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Japan was "in total agreement with others" to stay in the talks.

"There is no way we will let them return to the process as a nuclear power," Shiozaki, chief cabinet secretary, told a news conference.

The negotiations, which began in 2003 in Beijing, are aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic incentives and security guarantees.

Japan would likely be asked to help bankroll any potential deal reached during the six-nation talks.

But Japan has used the negotiations to press North Korea over its past abductions of Japanese nationals, infuriating Pyongyang and causing unease for other countries at the table.

The talks bring together North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

earlier related report
World May Be Asking Too Much From North Korea
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 6 - Japan's top career diplomat said Monday the world may be asking too much upfront from North Korea as it returns to six-nation talks after a year-long deadlock. "The hurdle is too high when we demand North Korea accept inspections of its nuclear development sites and other things from the beginning," said Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi.

"We need to win them over," he said.

Yachi's remarks come despite the hard line of new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, which has pledged to make North Korea pay dearly for its October 9 nuclear test.

A UN Security Council resolution, adopted against North Korea last month following its nuclear test, demands that Pyongyang return to the multilateral talks unconditionally.

It also demands the communist state abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs while accepting inspections by the nuclear watchdog agency.

North Korea had boycotted the six-nation talks since November 2005 in protest at US financial sanctions.

But the country agreed on October 31 to return to the disarmament talks after a year-long gap.

Incoming UN chief and South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, who was on a two-day trip to Tokyo, said he hoped that six-nation talks would resume by the end of the month.

The six countries participating in the negotiations aimed at denuclearizing the Korean peninsula are: the United States, Japan, Russia, China, South Korea and North Korea.

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