North Korean ambassador to the United Nations Sin Son-ho says that the six-party nuclear talks and peace regime talks can open only after all U.S. and U.N. sanctions on the North are lifted.

Talking to the Associated Press and other foreign correspondents in New York, the envoy said the peace talks North Korea proposed on Monday can be held side by side with the six-way nuclear dialogue.

Sin suggested a peace agreement be signed within this year, which is the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.