North Korea, China agree to reconvene six-party talks

BEIJING -- China and North Korea agreed "in principle" Thursday to convene a second round of six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program, further evidence of an increased diplomatic role for Beijing in the yearlong dispute.

The reports were welcomed by the United States, which said the "multiparty process" offered the best hope of getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

While couched in tentative language, the North's latest statement could be more binding because it was made publicly alongside China, its last major ally and one it would be reluctant to alienate.

No timeframe was given for future talks, and it was not immediately clear what the next step would be. The United States wants North Korea to shut down its nuclear program immediately.

Word of the accord came after a meeting between Kim Jong Il, the North's reclusive leader, and Wu Bangguo, the most senior Chinese to visit North Korea since 2001.

In its national evening newscast, China Central Television showed Wu, head of China's legislature and its No. 2 communist, shaking hands with a smiling Kim. Wu is on a three-day "goodwill" visit as China tries to ensure another round of the six-nation summit held in Beijing in August.

"Both sides agreed in principle that the six-way talks should continue," CCTV's anchorwoman said. "China and North Korea support the idea of a peaceful resolution to the North Korean issue through dialogue."

The official news agencies of North Korea and China confirmed the report. Pyongyang's KCNA used slightly more tentative language, however, saying the sides "agreed in principle to pursue the course of the six-way talks."

KCNA said the North "expressed its willingness to take part in the future talks if they provide a process of putting into practice the proposal for a package solution based on the principle of simultaneous actions."

North Korea has previously said that "simultaneous actions" include economic and humanitarian aid from the United States, the opening of diplomatic ties and the building of a nuclear power plant. It also demands a signed nonaggression treaty -- something the Bush administration has thus far refused.

In exchange, North Korea has said it would declare its willingness to give up nuclear development, allow nuclear inspections, give up missiles exports and finally dismantle its nuclear weapons facilities.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the United States was "encouraged" by the reports that North Korea had agreed in principle to six-nation talks.

"The president has made it very clear that the multi-party process provides the best hope for achieving our shared objective of getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions and end its nuclear weapons building," he said.

McClellan reiterated the United States was still interested in providing some kind of security assurance to North Korea -- an alternative to the nonaggression treaty the North seeks.

"But North Korea must end its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable, irreversible way. We've made that very clear," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also welcomed "encouraging news from Pyongyang," U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said in New York. "He (Anan) remains convinced that dialogue is the way to resolve security and related issues facing the Korean peninsula."

The joint statement could be considered a diplomatic victory for Beijing, which has had to balance its duty to its neighbor with what a nuclear-armed North might mean for China's security and its fast-growing economy.

The presence of Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China's point man on North Korean affairs, reinforced notions of possible motion in the nuclear issue during the trip. China's Foreign Ministry declined comment on the developments until Wu's visit concludes.

CCTV also reported that Kim had accepted Chinese President Hu Jintao's invitation to visit China again. Kim said he would do so "at his convenience," CCTV said.

Snippets of the two leaders sitting across from each other at a long table in a cavernous Pyongyang meeting room were broadcast. Wu and Kim laughed and gestured expansively.

The dispute began a year ago when the United States said North Korea admitted having a secret nuclear program. Washington demanded the program be scrapped, Pyongyang refused and the language between the two became more acid.

The North is believed already to have one or two atomic bombs, and recently said it extracted plutonium from 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods to build more. Two weeks ago, it threatened to test a bomb.

At the August meeting in Beijing, the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia agreed to convene again, a commitment the North quickly scrapped and scorned. It has since gone back and forth about whether it would join future summits.

China, which has gently pressed the issue of further discussions, has stepped up the rhetoric with Wu's trip. Earlier Thursday, China's official Xinhua News Agency quoted Wu as saying that "adherence to dialogue should be the correct direction" to end the standoff.

And Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue, at a regular briefing the same day, reiterated: "We want to hold this round of six-party talks as soon as possible."

State-controlled Chinese newspapers, too, amplified the official position: More talks are needed. Said the English-language China Daily: "Neighbors work together for peace."