North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il told China he has no plans for a second atom bomb test but increased international pressure could trigger more action, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
A ministry spokesman also said that, contrary to some reports, Kim did not apologise in a meeting with a Chinese presidential envoy in Pyongyang last week for his nation's first ever nuclear weapons test on October 9.
The test triggered global outrage and led to sweeping UN sanctions against his impoverished Stalinist regime, while also leaving the world nervous as to whether Kim might defy global pressure and stage a second test.
"He expressed that North Korea does not have a plan for a second nuclear test," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters, briefing on Kim's meeting on Thursday with Chinese envoy Tang Jiaxuan.
"But if others put further pressure or unfair pressure (on the country), then North Korea may possibly take further measures."
Liu did not outline what potential measures Kim may take, but his comments were the most specific account yet of the meeting between the reclusive North Korean leader and Tang.
It was the first encounter between Kim and any foreign official since the test and came as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on a tour of Japan, South Korea and China pushing for strict enforcement of the UN sanctions.
South Korean newspaper the Chosun Ilbo, quoting diplomatic sources in Beijing, said on Friday that Kim had "conveyed his sorry feelings" to Tang for the blast, but Liu denied the report.
"I have not heard of Kim Jong-Il apologising," he said.
China is North Korea's closest ally and biggest trade partner, and is seen as crucial to global efforts to rein in the regime.
Liu also said Kim had reiterated his stance that Pyongyang would not return to talks on its nuclear ambitions until the United States lifted financial sanctions imposed last year for alleged money-laundering and counterfeiting.
"They expressed to us their willingness to return to the six-party talks but there are certain conditions," spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
"They are willing to return, but these questions, including financial sanctions, need to be solved."
Returning to the talks -- which have been stalled since North Korea walked out in November 2005 -- is a key plank of the UN Security Council resolution imposed on the nation for conducting its nuclear test.
The Chinese foreign ministry's account tallies with that given on Monday by former Japanese vice foreign minister Ichiro Aisawa, who spoke to Wu Dawei, one of China's vice foreign ministers who accompanied Tang to Pyongyang.
Wu is China's head delegate and chair of the six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
"Vice Foreign Minister Wu said that at this moment, China is not optimistic about the resumption of the six-party talks or about North Korea abandoning nuclear" (weapons), Aisawa told a news conference in Beijing.
Aisawa quoted Wu as saying North Korea "showed some flexibility" and that Beijing was checking to see if Washington would reciprocate.
China has hosted the talks since 2003. The sides agreed a deal in September last year on ending the North's nuclear program in return for economic benefits and security guarantees, but it fell apart when North Korea walked out in protest at the financial sanctions.
Meanwhile, Liu said China had no intention of scaling back its huge aid program to North Korea because of the nuclear crisis.
"Supplying the North Korean people with aid to help them overcome some difficulties has all along been the policy of the Chinese government," Liu said.
"We believe this is beneficial to the stability of the peninsula... at present I have not heard anything about stopping this kind of aid to North Korea."
China is North Korea's largest aid donor, supplying the nation with grain, fertiliser and oil.