China calls for restraint as North Korea talks start

BEIJING - China urged restraint from all six sides on Wednesday as negotiators, smiling and shaking hands after 10 months of escalating threats and rhetoric, sat down for talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear crisis.

Diplomats from the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China took their places at an enormous hexagonal table for the closed-door talks at the exclusive Diaoyutai State Guest House in western Beijing.

The talks are seen as the first in a series of tough rounds of negotiation, with even agreement to meet again likely to be greeted as a sign of success. The six negotiators appeared relaxed, smiling and sharing a group handshake for the cameras.

The distance dividing the two protagonists was underscored by North Korea's official KCNA news agency, which demanded Washington refrain from "unreasonable demands" and said the fate of the talks depended on US readiness to give and take.

The United States will be looking initially for a commitment that isolated Pyongyang will scrap its nuclear programme. North Korea wants security guarantees before dismantling.

China, keen to keep the dispute from escalating into a destabilising conflict or a refugee crisis on its northeast flank, says North Korea's security concerns should be addressed and called for level heads and restraint.

In that spirit, Beijing placed closest together the parties whose positions stand furthest apart -- US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and his team sat next to North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il and his delegation.

The United States has branded North Korea part of an "axis of evil" along with pre-war Iraq and Iran.

China's negotiator, Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi, opened the talks, saying they marked a new beginning after a meeting among Washington, Pyongyang and Beijing in April, and were a key step towards a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

"The six-party talks are the continuation and expansion of the three-party talks, but more of a new beginning, they indicated an important step towards the peaceful solution of the North Korean nuclear issue," Wang said.

The official Xinhua news agency appealed for reason on an issue that raises fears of a nuclear standoff in northeast Asia.

"Piling up pressure unilaterally or taking hardline measures will not help solve the nuclear issue," Xinhua said.

The United States said in October North Korea had admitted to a clandestine programme to enrich uranium to build nuclear weapons, violating agreements with the United States as well as its international commitments.

The isolated communist state has since thrown out UN nuclear inspectors, become the first state to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarted its Yongbyon plant, sparking fears it has reprocessed spent fuel rods there into plutonium for weapons.

The only agreement among all parties, except North Korea, is that the Korean peninsula should be free of nuclear weapons.

Analysts expect the countries to lay out their positions in the three days of talks with the most optimistic outcome merely an agreement to keep talking.

Indeed, Kelly appears on a tight leash -- able to state the US position but not authorised to respond to proposals.

North Korea's Kim Yong-il, too, will have scant power beyond relaying the stand of reclusive leader Kim Jong-il.

Pyongyang's statement as the talks began characterised its hardline rhetoric, sometimes a sign of bravado before bending.

"The US should refrain from putting up unreasonable conditions and opting for meeting its unilateral demands and interests at the talks. The talks must follow the way of "giving and taking" under any circumstances," KCNA said.

One US official in Washington said that while the Bush administration had agreed informal contacts can and will occur, it would not agree to the bilateral talks Pyongyang wants.

"It has to take place within the (main meeting) room. There can be no formal bilateral. Period," the official said.

Apart from reiterating standard US policy, Kelly is "not allowed to say anything back to them... If they say we want you to commit to this, he doesn't have authorisation to respond. Kelly is in a listening mode," an official said.

- REUTERS