North Korea says it is seeking to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula through both bilateral talks with the U.S. and through multilateral talks with other members of the six-party denuclearization framework.

The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) says Prime Minister Kim Yong-il made the remarks to visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during the Chinese statesman’s visit to Pyongyang.

KCNA cited Kim as saying that the U.S. is responsible for the nuclear issue. He said denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula directly relates to a world free of nuclear weapons, calling it the will of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung.

According to KCNA, the two officials agreed that the bilateral friendship between their two nations will not change in the future.