The North Korean position was conveyed through a channel between Pyongyang and the Kremlin around the end of July as part of bilateral negotiations on the North Korean nuclear standoff, they said.

They did not say whether North Korea would respond if Japan raises the issue of Japanese abducted by the North. If it does, the dialogue could pave the way for the two sides to resume talks on normalizing ties.

North Korea plans to ask Japan for some $15 billion in aid, the sources said, suggesting Pyongyang will agree to resuming normalization talks based on progress in the six-party talks and Japanese demands related to the abductions of its citizens decades ago.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Saturday that for the meeting in Beijing later this month China is prepared to set up a venue for talks between Japan and North Korea on the abductions.

Direct talks between Japan and North Korea have been suspended since last October.

The sources also said North Korea is asking the administration of President Vladimir Putin to set up a bilateral framework for Russia to provide economic assistance to the cash-strapped North.

Pyongyang may be trying to get economic and energy-related aid from Japan in exchange for giving up its nuclear program and normalizing relations. It may be seeking Russian help to improve its infrastructure, which mostly consists of old Soviet facilities, informed sources said.

During the meeting with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, North Korea is expected to seek a security guarantee and economic aid in return for scrapping its nuclear arms program.

North Korea said last week it would agree to join the six-party talks, a major policy change from its earlier insistence on talks with the U.S. alone.

In China-brokered tripartite discussions on the issue in Beijing in April, North Korean officials reportedly told U.S. officials Pyongyang already has nuclear weapons and had all but completed reprocessing nuclear fuel rods in a step that would allow it to have more nuclear bombs in several months.