Pyongyang’s leaders "must stop these dangerous provocations and take concrete steps to show that they will begin meeting their international obligations".

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday that nuclear talks with North Korea are still possible only in case Pyongyang ends “dangerous provocations” and shows “good faith”.

Ending his Asian tour, Gates said in Seoul that the process must start with talks between the two Koreas.
He castigated the North for its "continued belligerence and repeated provocations" in recent months but did not rule out a revival of long-stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations.

"With regard to next steps on North Korea, diplomatic engagement is possible, starting with direct engagement between the DPRK (North Korea) and the South," Gates said in a statement before he held talks with Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin.
"When or if North Korea's action shows a cause to believe that negotiations can be productive and conducted in good faith, then we could see a return to the six-party talks."

However, Gates said Pyongyang's leaders "must stop these dangerous provocations and take concrete steps to show that they will begin meeting their international obligations".
The North quit the aid-for-nuclear disarmament talks in April 2009, a month before staging its second nuclear test.

Pyongyang has expressed willingness to return to the forum grouping the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan, based on certain conditions.
It wants a lifting of UN sanctions and a US commitment to discuss a formal peace treaty before it comes back.

In November, the communist states disclosed a uranium enrichment plant -- potentially a second route to a nuclear bomb.
The United States, Japan and South Korea say the North must improve relations with the South and show a real commitment to scrapping its nuclear arsenal before the six-party process -- which began in 2003 -- can resume.

Tensions have been high between the two Koreas since a South Korean ship was torpedoed last year in March with the loss of 46 sailors. Seoul and the US accuse Pyongyang to responsible for the attack, but the North denies any involvement.

Relations between the neighbors were worsened later on November as the North shelled a Southern Island killing two marines and two civilians.
Gates began his tour in China and arrived in Seoul from Japan.

In Tokyo Thursday he urged the North to take concrete steps to show it is "serious" about talks, after Pyongyang offered limited dialogue with Seoul.
The North Wednesday reopened a cross-border hotline and sought talks on strengthening business projects with South Korea, continuing its apparent overtures.

But the South stuck to its own conditions for any talks -- that the North take responsibility for provocations and confirm it is serious about scrapping its atomic program.