Nuclear test means now we can talk, says N.Korea

BEIJING, Nov 28 (Reuters) - North Korea is prepared to return to six-country talks on its nuclear weapons programme at any time now that it has "completed defensive steps" with a nuclear test, a senior envoy of the communist state said on Tuesday.

However, Kim Kye-gwan told reporters on arrival for talks in Beijing that North Korea still had differences to narrow with the United States, which has squeezed Pyongyang's external sources of financing for more than a year.

North Korea agreed to return to six-party talks, which it had boycotted for a year, after its Oct. 9 underground nuclear test triggered international condemnation and U.N.-backed sanctions.

The six-party talks bring together the two Koreas, the United States, host China, Japan and Russia. Envoys from all six, except Russia, are in Beijing for preparatory discussions.