The key architect of North Korea’s nuclear diplomacy recently reiterated Pyongyang’s call for an unconditional resumption of the six-party talks on the communist regime’s atomic weapons program. Kang Sok-ju, who brokered the 1994 nuclear deal with the U.S. in Geneva, said, “We want a resumption of the six-party talks without preconditions.”

Kang, a secretary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party in charge of international relations, also called for the implementation of past inter-Korean agreements as the first step toward improving bilateral ties.

His remarks, made in Berlin last Saturday, sounded too habitual to diplomatic observers here, who have closely monitored his rare trip to four European countries including Germany and Switzerland. It is expected that North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong will not go beyond Kang’s arguments during his planned visit to New York later this month to attend the U.N. General Assembly.

Their trips have drawn attention as a possible sign of change in the communist state’s recalcitrant stance. South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said last week that the North’s aggressive diplomatic moves signaled its “desperate” need to break from its international isolation and overcome economic woes. Probably so, but Kang’s remarks made it clear Pyongyang remained far from fundamentally changing its course of action.

A day before Kang embarked on his European tour last Saturday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said it had seen signs indicating North Korea may again be operating a reactor to make plutonium for atomic bombs.

The North’s repeated demand for an unconditional resumption of the six-party talks reflects its intention to secure status as a nuclear weapons state and get the U.S. to agree to hold negotiations on nuclear arms control. The impoverished regime has defended its nuclear program as a “treasured sword” to counter what it regards as U.S.-led hostility.

Pyongyang apparently wants to use the cases of three detained U.S. citizens as leverage to reopen dialogue with Washington in an attempt to achieve its ultimate goal. The North announced Sunday its highest court would try one of them later this month.

But its track record of reneging on previous accords after gaining economic concessions has nearly eliminated room for repeating its deceitful maneuvering.

During their talks in Washington on Tuesday, chief nuclear envoys from South Korea and the U.S. made it clear they had no intention of letting Pyongyang replay old games. They reaffirmed that the North should first take concrete actions to demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization, if the six-party talks, which also involve China, Japan and Russia, are to be resumed.

Seoul and Washington need to maintain this firm stance against lowering the bar for reopening the nuclear talks, which have been stalled since North Korean representatives walked away from the negotiating table in late 2008. They should also continue to urge China to put more pressure on the North to take a step toward fundamental change.

Kang’s possible meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Jiarui in Beijing on his way home from the European trip may serve as yet another indicator of Pyongyang’s future course.