SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- A US-led international consortium has told the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that it is willing to resume energy supply if Pyongyang returns to the six-party nuclear talks, South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported Monday.

    Kim Young-mok, a South Korean deputy executive director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), told Yonhap in a telephone interview that measures will be taken "in a rapid and comprehensive manner" to address the DPRK's energy needsif progress is made in the stalled six-party talks aimed to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

    "The KEDO will consider resuming heavy oil shipment if the North (DPRK) returns to the six-way talks, addresses the issue of highly enriched uranium and puts reactors which it said has resumed operations into surveillance again," Kim was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

    Kim, who visited the DPRK on Feb. 19-22 as a member of the KEDO's delegation, said that Pyongyang has been informed that other members of the six-party talks are prepared to tackle the DPRK's energy needs if it returns to the dialogue table.

    According to an agreement the United States and the DPRK reached in 1994, Washington promised to provide heavy oil shipments to Pyongyang and build two light-water reactors in the DPRK in exchange for Pyongyang's freezing of its nuclear facilities.

    The KEDO was formed in 1995 under the leadership of the United States, whose key members include the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union. Then it began to construct two reactors in the DPRK.

    However, after the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula emerged in late 2002, the KEDO suspended oil shipments to the DPRK,which led to the DPRK's expulsion of UN nuclear monitors and quitting of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The KEDO also halted construction work of two reactors in the DPRK in early 2003.

    China, the United States, the DPRK, Russia, South Korea and Japan have held three rounds of nuclear talks, trying to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully through dialogue. However, the scheduled fourth round of nuclear talks failed to be convened lastSeptember.

    The DPRK announced on Feb. 10 that it was suspending participation in the six-party nuclear talks indefinitely and for the first time admitted possessing of nuclear arms for self-defense.

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