Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov has said North Korea may agree to adopt a joint statement that it would dismantle its nuclear weapons program in return for security assurances during the on-going six-party talks in Beijing.

Losyukov said in an interview with the ITAR-TASS news agency, participants in the talks agreed on the need for a written joint statement that would include North Korea's explicit willingness to scrap its nuclear development in exchange for assurances of non-agression against the communist state.

Security guarantees are a key component in a structured agreement that participants hope to achieve at the talks.

He said the statement would require careful preparation by experts and that therefore, a working-level group would be desirable to draft the statement.