SEOUL — North Korea said Monday it was open to new discussions to help resolve the dispute over its nuclear weapons program, although the North emphasized that it was not interested in resuming six-nation talks on the impasse.

The comment from the North Korean Foreign Ministry was seen as an apparent willingness to engage the United States in bilateral talks, a longstanding North Korean preference.

Over the weekend, Sin Son-ho, the top North Korean diplomat at the United Nations, said his government is “not against a dialogue” with Washington. And the ministry’s statement on Monday alluded to bilateral talks as “a specific and reserved form of dialogue that can address the current situation.”

North Korea’s suggestion brightens the prospects for dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington after months of increasing tensions triggered by a long-range rocket launch by North Korea in April; its second nuclear test, in May; and a series of test-firings of short-range missiles.

But a fundamental rift remains: The Obama administration has indicated it would be willing to engage the North in direct talks only if the North agrees to return to the six-nation talks that involve the United States, China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated over the weekend that Washington wants the North’s nuclear problem to be handled and resolved through six-party talks.

On Monday the North Korean Foreign Ministry said the multilateral talks were finished when the other five countries agreed to sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council following the May 25 nuclear test. The North said the penalties violated its “sovereignty.”

Before North Korea reluctantly joined the six-party talks in 2003, it had maintained that the nuclear standoff was a matter solely between Pyongyang and Washington — a position that a senior North Korean envoy revived during an Asian security conference in Thailand last week.

North Korea said Monday the six-nation talks aimed to “disarm and incapacitate” it.

“What they want is to make us survive on bread crumbs tossed by them,” it said. “It would be foolish and absurd of them if they expect that we will join or leave a meeting at their bidding.”

News by NYtimes

N. Korea Says It’s Open to Dialogue on Its Weapons