A Japanese daily says North Korea is calling for ten thousand tons of heavy oil in return for its participation in the six-party talks.

Japan’s Sankei Newspaper quoted a source in Washington as saying that the North is asking the U.S. to provide heavy oil at an early date and remove several items of sanctions against North Korea as preconditions for Pyongyang’s attendance at the six-way talks.

The daily said, “the restoration of direct or indirect dialogue channels between Pyongyang and Washington is also included in the list of demands by the communist state.”