North Korea's top nuclear negotiator says his country will not unilaterally abandon nuclear weapons at this stage.

After talks with South Korean counterpart Chun Yung-woo in Beijing Thursday, the North's chief delegate to the six-way talks Kim Kye-kwan said Pyongyang is ready to implement the September 2005 joint declaration on nuclear dismantlement. But he also said his country cannot give up nukes for now, adding that denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula was the will of the late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung.

Meanwhile, Chun said the two officials candidly discussed substantive ways to achieve progress at the six-party talks. He said the talks' resumption requires more fine-tuning but stressed that the two agreed on the will to reopen the talks and make progress.