Tokyo ? The United States has demanded that North Korea pledge to implement four key conditions, including the complete closure of a facility related to its nuclear test, during preparatory talks involving the two countries and China held ahead of the six-party negotiations, according to diplomatic sources.

Washington made the demand during the three-way talks in Beijing, ahead of the resumption of the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

According to Japanese and U.S. government sources, the three-way meeting was held at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

During the meeting, Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan that the pledge was a precondition for resuming the six-nation negotiations.

North Korea was urged to completely close the underground facility used for its nuclear explosion test in October in Punggyeri in North Hamgyong Province, by burying it or via other means.

According to the sources, Hill also presented Kim with three other preconditions, including:

¢ Pyongyang must declare all its nuclear facilities and programs.

¢ All nuclear-related facilities must be opened for inspections at an early stage by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

¢ Work must cease at an experimental nuclear reactor in Yongbyon that produces plutonium.

Kim replied he would convey the demands to Pyongyang, where the matter will be discussed, the sources said.

The U.S. preconditions were fleshed out during a November meeting in Hanoi of chief delegates from Japan, South Korea and the United States, the sources said.

By pressing North Korea to close the nuclear test site and cease nuclear reactor experiments, the three nations aim to prevent Pyongyang from conducting another nuclear explosion test.

The Japanese and U.S. governments also hope the demands will help achieve a total abolition of nuclear weapons by North Korea.

A Japanese government official said: “North Korea needs to accept the preconditions before the six-party talks resume, and show a willingness not to let the situation deteriorate further. Then we’ll enter full-fledged negotiations to discuss practical measures for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”