Saturday, February 12 2005 10:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In a guarded response to North Korea publicly acknowledging that it has nuclear weapons, India yesterday (Feb 11, 2005) hoped the six-nation talks on the nuclear issue would resume soon to resolve the "complex issue".

"We hope the six-nation talks from which North Korea has withdrawn will be resumed sooner than later so that the complex issue can be resolved," External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh told reporters in New Delhi when asked to comment on Thursday's (Feb 10, 2005) developments.

North Korea in Thursday publicly acknowledged for the first time that it has nuclear weapons to defend itself from the US and declared pulling out of the six-nation talks hosted by China to find a diplomatic solution to the vexed issue.

Singh was talking to reporters after releasing a book 'South Asian Union' in New Delhi.

The External Affairs Minister said Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his recent visit to Delhi, had said that India should be made permanent member of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with veto power.

On the report of the high-level panel submitted to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Singh said that the world body chief would firm up his views and send it to member countries in March.

"Amending the UN Charter is not a simple exercise. It was done once in 1965 when the number of non-permanent members was raised from 11 to 15," he said.

He said that the reform in the UN was expected in 1995, when it became 50 years old, but it could not take place.

"Now we hope that some progress will be made in this regard this year," he said adding "but this is not an easy process."