( CNN ) -- North Korea stated its commitment to lasting peace and a nuclear-free Korean peninsula in an editorial published on New Year 's Day , state-run media reported . `` The Workers ' Party of Korea and the government ... will strive to develop relations of good-neighborliness and friendship with other countries and achieve global independence under the unfurled banner of independence , peace and friendship , '' KCNA reported . The editorial may be a hopeful sign as the international community tries to coax Pyongyang back to six-party negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear program . North Korea has refused to return to the talks conducted by the United States , Russia , China , South Korea and Japan , insisting that it wants to talk directly with the U.S. government . In April , Pyongyang declared the talks `` dead '' in anger over international criticism of its nuclear and missile tests last year . U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton previously said the United States was willing to meet bilaterally with North Korea but only within the framework of the six-party talks . She also has warned that the United States will not normalize ties with Pyongyang or lift sanctions unless North Korea takes irreversible steps toward dismantling its nuclear program . `` The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship between ( North Korea ) and the U.S.A. , '' Friday 's editorial said . `` It is the consistent stand of ( North Korea ) to establish a lasting peace system on the Korean Peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations . '' Some analysts have said that North Korea might be trying to buy time with its new outreach to the United States . Recent reports in Seoul , South Korea , have claimed North Korea is in the final stages of restoring its Yongbyon nuclear plant , which Pyongyang had begun to disable before walking away from the six-party talks . Given the secrecy of the North , those reports could not be verified . Analysts said North Korea is also desperate to break out of its diplomatic isolation and ease its economic pain , especially after the U.N. Security Council imposed tougher sanctions on the country in response to Pyongyang 's nuclear and missile tests during 2009 .
Some analysts say North Korea might be trying to buy time with new outreach . Analysts say North Korea also desperate to break out of diplomatic isolation . Comment: