"Hans Britz?! Oh, No!! Oh, Hi, Hans!"

US politician praises North Korea.

North Korea is committed to dismantling its nuclear weapons programme, an unofficial US envoy has said, after a visit to the capital Pyongyang.

Bill Richardson said he was "very pleased" with North Korea's willingness to make progress in six-nation talks.

Pyongyang has already pledged to abandon its nuclear weapons in an earlier round of the talks.

Mr Richardson, former US ambassador at the UN, said North Korea now wanted to focus on a civilian nuclear programme.

This is encouraging; we've never heard anything like this before from Iran North Korea. (Dripping in sarcasm)

Mr Richardson, the governor of the US state of New Mexico, spent several days meeting North Korean officials and touring their nuclear facilities last week.

He later told the South Korean foreign minister that the North had indicated it was willing to comply with international non-proliferation treaties and to allow UN monitoring of its nuclear programme.

"I was impressed with their tone, and their commitment to principles," he told reporters in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

Can you say gullible naive?