North Korea reportedly said at the ongoing six-party nuclear talks in Beijing that it is willing to take steps to improve its ties with the U.S. and Japan.

The Choson Sinbo, a paper published by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, quoted a Chinese source as saying that North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-kwan expressed willingness to work for improved ties with Washington and Tokyo when the current round opened on Thursday.

The newspaper said that Seoul's top negotiator Chun Yung-woo announced that North Korea would be given 450-thousand tons of heavy fuel oil and energy facilities equivalent to 500-thousand tons of heavy fuel oil when Pyongyang takes the next steps to report and disable its nuclear facilities under a February denuclearization agreement.