Despite the prolonged nuclear standoff, the North has received an additional $3.4 billion worth of humanitarian aid over the past decade, the report by the Foreign Ministry, submitted to Parliament, stated.

Under the 1994 Agreed Framework, Pyongyang pledged to freeze its 5-megawatt Soviet-designed weapons-grade plutonium producing graphite-moderated reactor in its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang.

In return, its U.S.-led partners agreed to build two safer 1,000-megawatt light-water reactors for the North and provide an annual shipment of 500,000 tons of heavy oil as alternative energy sources while the nuclear power plants were being built.

Under the agreement, the North received $1.98 billion worth of support until the deal was scrapped in 2002 when the North was discovered to have been secretly reprocessing uranium in violation of the framework.

South Korea shouldered $1.2 billion for the light-water project, while Japan paid $410 million and the European Union spent $108 million. The United States also provided 3.65 million tons of fuel oil, worth $400 million, until 2002.

But the 1994 deal fell apart as the North acknowledged to a U.S. delegation in October 2002 that it had a program for developing highly enriched uranium.

The North also ratcheted up nuclear tensions by pulling out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in January 2003, which forced regional countries to seek fresh negotiations to end the nuclear issue.

Under the 2006 accord, the North promised to shut down and seal its plutonium-producing reactor in exchange for 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil and equivalent energy. In June last year, the North toppled the outdated cooling tower at the Yongbyon complex, which led to its removal of the communist country from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring nations in October.

The North has received 745,000 tons of heavy oil, worth $310 million, under the deal, which was again on the verge of falling apart following the North's second nuclear weapons test last May.

In the face of U.N.-mandated sanctions, the North further raised tensions last month by announcing that it was weaponizing plutonium and had almost succeeded in highly enriching uranium, which could give it a new path to build nuclear arms.

North Korea's strategy of swings between confrontation and detente has paid off again, as the United States has accepted Pyongyang's longstanding demand for direct talks.

Despite the prolonged nuclear standoff, the North was given $3.4 billion worth of food and fertilizer aid from 1998 to 2007 from its negotiating partners.

South Korea donated $2 billion worth of humanitarian aid during the ten years, while the United States offered $640 million worth of relief aid, the Foreign Ministry document said.

Kwon Young-se, a ruling lawmaker who obtained the document, said future negotiations should be focused on "irreversible dismantlement" of the North's nuclear weapons programs.

"More than ($1.7 billion) was used in return for North Korea's promises to give up its nuclear weapons but the nuclear issue still remains unresolved and the North even conducted a second nuclear test," he said.

The document came as the North is set to get huge economic aid from China in return for rejoining long-stalled six-nation talks on ending the prolonged nuclear standoff.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is in Pyongyang to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the two nations forming diplomatic ties and to discuss the nuclear issue. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il made a rare appearance at Pyongyang's airport Sunday to greet Wen, a protocol usually reserved for heads of state.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens "from all walks of life" lined the Pyongyang streets to "warmly welcome his goodwill mission," the North's official media said.

Diplomatic sources in Seoul said Wen would offer millions of dollars worth of food and energy aid and other business projects for the North in return for its promise to resume multilateral nuclear talks.

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