North Korean nuclear talks resume

SHENYANG, China (AFP) - Negotiators in six-nation talks to halt North Korea's nuclear drive held a first day of discussions yesterday on steps the secretive regime must take to keep disarmament on track.

The two-day meeting in northeast China's Shenyang city, near the North Korean border, is addressing what Pyongyang should do to declare and disable its nuclear weapons programmes.

"We will focus our energy on discussing how to move forward the process of Korean peninsula denuclearisation," chief Chinese envoy Wu Dawei said as the talks kicked off at the Liaoning Friendship Hotel.

The so-called "declare-and-disable" phase is the second step in a six-nation accord signed in February under which the North, one of the world's most impoverished countries, agreed to end its nuclear weapons programmes.

US chief negotiator Christopher Hill has insisted the reclusive communist nation must come clean on all nuclear weapons programmes for the process to move forward.

The United States suspects the North, which conducted its first atomic weapons test last October, is running a secretive highly enriched uranium programme in addition to projects it has already admitted to.

Yesterday, North Korean delegates voiced willingness to "resolve" the issue, Hill said, but added he did not see any real difference from what they have said before.

"How you define 'resolve' could take some time," Hill said after yesterday's meeting.