Japan's Kyodo News Agency says North Korean leader Kim Jong-il laid out certain conditions for returning to the six-way nuclear talks during a meeting with a visiting Chinese envoy last month.

On Tuesday, the news agency reported that Kim told China's Wang Jiarui certain conditions that Pyongyang wants before reentering the nuclear discussions, including a U.S. security guarantee, equal terms in reaching an accord, credible preconditions and lastly, an explanation as to why the United States describes North Korea as an "outpost of tyranny."

During his talks with the head of the Chinese Communist Party's International Department, Kim reportedly described the six-way talks as "meaningless" unless the United States is willing to deal with North Korea on equal terms.

Quoting a diplomatic source, Kyodo also said that Kim admitted to Wang that North Korea has produced nuclear weapons, saying its possession of such weapons was "not something new that happened yesterday or today."
Kim reportedly said Pyongyang was forced to make the weapons for self-defense because of what it calls the United States' "hostile" policy toward the country.

Kim's remarks come after Pyongyang declared on February 10 that it possesses nuclear weapons and will indefinitely pull out of the six-way nuclear negotiations.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has said it believes North Korea has produced enough plutonium for at least one and possibly two nuclear weapons.