N. Korea calls for peace treaty with U.S.

North Korea called Wednesday for a peace treaty with the United States to officially end the Korean War decades after the fighting ceased, describing it as a first step toward the peninsula's denuclearization. The move comes as a senior North Korean official arrived in New York for rare talks with U.S. officials on how to resume stalled six-nation negotiations on ending the North''s nuclear programs, according to South Korean News Agency (YONHAP). Pyongyang has long yearned to sign a peace treaty with Washington as a way to improve their relations after decades of enmity following the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. "Being a curtain-raiser to confidence-building, the conclusion of a peace agreement will provide an institutional guarantee for wiping out the bilateral distrust and opening the relations of mutual respect and equality," the North''s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a commentary. The KCNA also insisted that it''s impossible to achieve a smooth solution to the issue of denuclearization as long as hostile relations persist between Pyongyang and Washington. "Concluding a peace agreement may be the first step for settling the Korean issue, including denuclearization," the commentary said. In New York, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan voiced optimism for improved Pyongyang-Washington ties as well as for the six-nation disarmament talks. The nuclear talks have been deadlocked for almost three years amid repeated provocations by Pyongyang. The negotiations, hosted by China, also involve South Korea, Japan and Russia.