US and N. Korea meet on sidelines of nuclear talks

After months of threats and rhetoric, the United States and North Korea sat down yesterday for nuclear crisis talks with the communist state's neighbours, and even made time for a bilateral meeting on the side.

There was no sign of any early diplomatic progress. One Japanese press report said the United States had rejected beleaguered North Korea's key pre-condition - that the two countries sign a non-aggression treaty.

South Korea said US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly held informal talks with Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il of North Korea, whose half-declared desire to become a nuclear power triggered the crisis in the region.

By the end of the day, though, Russia, like China a traditional friend of the reclusive and impoverished North, was talking about blockage.

"So far, the countries have put forward a number of preliminary demands regarding each other, which are blocking the development of these talks," said Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, quoted by Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.

Host China put a more positive spin on the first day, describing it a success.

"I heard talks this morning and this afternoon were very successful," Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told delegates to the talks during a reception later.

"I congratulate you. This also implies everybody reached an important consensus and that is everybody hopes the Korean peninsula will be stable, peaceful and denuclearised."

China appealed for restraint before the six countries took their places at a specially chosen hexagonal table in Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guest House, scene down the centuries of imperial palace intrigues and secretive communist plots.

It conjured up a group handshake when its chief negotiator pulled together his counterparts from North Korea, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Russia before the three-day meeting began.

North Korea reminded the world in an unusually mild newspaper editorial of its core demand for a US security guarantee .

But Tass, quoting a source at the talks, said the North's chief delegate later told the meeting it had neither nuclear weapons nor plans to develop them, but would develop "more powerful deterrence" if its demands were not met.

Japan, within range of North Korean planes and missiles and the only country in the world to have suffered a nuclear attack, made no bones about where it stood, insisting that Pyongyang must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. But Wi Sung-lac, deputy head of the South Korean delegation, said the heads of the US and North Korean delegations found time to talk.

"The United States and North Korea freely held bilateral talks in the meeting room," Wi said, adding that they did not leave the main room where the formal discussions were taking place and chatted on a sofa.

"The talks lasted about 30 or 40 minutes," he told reporters.

Before the main talks began, China's Xinhua news agency appealed for all sides to show restraint. "Piling up pressure unilaterally or taking hardline measures will not help solve the nuclear issue," it said.

The negotiators smiled and looked relaxed as they went into their first session. Chinese negotiator Wang Yi said the talks marked a new beginning.

But there was little indication of how the six countries would bridge the gaps as delegations staked out their positions.