N. Korea again calls Japan 'unfit' for six-party nuclear negotiations

North Korea Monday called on Japan to stay away from international negotiations over its nuclear weapons program, accusing it of trying to interrupt efforts to peacefully resolve the nuclear dispute.

"Japan is nothing but a swindler who doesn't even have the qualifications to attend the six-party talks," the ruling Workers' Party daily Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency.

The editorial comes after an unidentified spokesman for the North's Foreign Ministry said early last month that it would not be necessary or desirable for Japan to participate in the nuclear talks since "it is no more than a state of the United States and it is enough for Tokyo just to be informed of the results of the talks by Washington."

But the North's latest demand for Japan to stay away from the negotiations appears more sincere, as it comes amid a flurry of diplomacy to resume the stalled negotiations.

The talks are expected to open next week following North Korea's agreement in late October to restart the negotiations, which also involve South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the U.S.,

after its 13-month boycott.

Japan has attended all five rounds of the talks aimed at bringing a peaceful end to the nuclear dispute, which erupted in late 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

But Pyongyang has long accused Tokyo of trying to stall the talks by bringing in other issues, such as Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North decades ago.

"Even if they (Japan) appeared at the venue of the six-party talks, they would not provide any benefits, only making us waste our time while creating complications by bringing out trivial issues," the Rodong Sinmun editorial said.

"Talks without Japan would start without inconveniences," it added.

North Korea and Japan have no formal diplomatic relations despite years of negotiations toward normalizing ties, while Tokyo accuses the communist nation of abducting dozens of Japanese citizens decades ago and still hiding them.

Seoul, Dec. 11 (Yonhap News)