A spokeswoman for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is ready to impose a temporary freeze on his country's nuclear weapons program if international negotiations about the program resume.

Natalya Timakova says Mr. Kim made the offer during a meeting between the two leaders Wednesday at a military base in Siberia. She says the North Korean leader has offered to return to the six-nation talks “without preconditions.”

South Korea and the United States have called on Pyongyang to suspend work on its atomic program before the talks resume.

The isolated regime is seeking economic concessions in exchange for abandoning its nuclear efforts. It quit the disarmament talks in 2009 after it tested a long-range missile, which drew a new round of international sanctions, and it subsequently conducted a nuclear test.

Russian media released photos of the two leaders shaking hands at the base in the city of Ulan-Ude on the shores of Lake Baikal. Mr. Kim spent Tuesday taking a boat ride on the lake and touring an aircraft factory. He was quoted as telling Mr. Medvedev he was having “a happy trip.”

The two also were expected to talk about a proposed gas pipeline to run from Russia through North Korea and into South Korea.

Such a pipeline would give South Korea huge savings on natural gas shipments from Russia, which are to begin later in this decade. North Korea would be able to ease its shortage of hard currency by charging up to $100 million a year in transit fees.

Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency said Russia also has proposed 3-party cooperation in other energy fields and on a rail line linking Seoul to Russia's Trans-Siberia Railway.

The talks come as a senior delegation of Russian military officials visits Pyongyang for talks on expanded military cooperation. Russian reports say the talks will focus on natural disaster relief and the possibility of joint maneuvers to rescue ships in distress.