North Korea had pledged Monday at six-nation talks in Beijing to give up its atomic weapons in return for energy and security guarantees. But it warned Tuesday that the offer was conditional on US concessions.

"They are telling us to give up everything, but there is nothing we should give up first," North Korea's envoy to the talks Kim Gye-gwan told reporters at Beijing airport before leaving for Pyongyang.

"The United States can prove a change to its hostile policy against the DPRK (North Korea) by providing light-water reactors."

His comments echoed an earlier statement by North Korea's foreign ministry, which said the United States "should not even dream" it would dismantle its nuclear arsenal until Washington had provided the reactors.

US officials on Tuesday downplayed the North's vow to keep its nuclear weapons as a negotiating tactic that left intact Monday's accord.

"I think we will not get hung up on this statement," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a news conference.

"We will stick to the text of the Beijing statement, and I believe that we can make progress if everybody sticks to what was actually agreed to," the chief US diplomat said.

Earlier, US ally Japan rejected the demand as "not acceptable", while China said all sides should honour their "solemn political commitment" to a joint document issued at the six-nation talks Monday.

"The common statement was passed by the six parties, and I don't think that the DPRK had any misunderstanding about this common statement," said foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

Monday's agreement had been cautiously welcomed by world leaders as an important step toward ending the three-year stand-off, with US President George W. Bush calling it a "positive sign".

The hawkish North Korean comments appeared to be a response to Washington's portrayal of the deal as a breakthrough, and to set a bargaining position ahead of a new round of six-nation talks in November.

The on-and-off talks which opened in August 2003 brought together North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, the United States and hosts China.

In the statement of principle on Monday, North Korea said it would scrap its weapons, return to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and accept international inspectors in return for security guarantees, economic benefits and energy aid.

The statement said North Korea's demand for light-water reactors, earlier ruled out by the United States, would be considered at an "appropriate" time.

US officials insisted that would happen only after North Korea's nuclear programmes had been scrapped.

The energy-starved North's demand for a light-water reactor was the sticking point when the talks broke up last month, even though experts have said the country's crumbling power grid could not handle the electricity it would generate.

The North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said the provision of the reactors was the key to ending the standoff.

"As clarified in the joint statement, we will return to the NPT and sign the Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA and comply with it immediately upon the US provision of LWRs, a basis of confidence-building, to us," he said.

South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-Hyung said he expected North Korea to soften its position ahead of the November talks.

"This issue will be discussed and settled through talks among countries concerned," he said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, though, indicated Pyongyang's demand spelled trouble.

"I suppose such statements would not be accepted," Machimura told reporters in Tokyo, adding that the position "seems to indicate that the second stage of negotiations has already begun".

Monday's agreement came as a surprise after the talks had deadlocked on the reactor demand. It averted the immediate possibility of Washington taking the issue to the UN Security Council.

The standoff began when the United States accused North Korea in 2002 of breaking a 1994 agreement by running a secret uranium-enrichment programme. Under the agreement, two light water reactors were to be supplied in exchange for a freeze on existing nuclear activity.

North Korea responded by throwing out international inspectors and withdrawing from the NPT.

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