Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says the United States and North Korea have both expressed a desire to solve the North Korean nuclear crisis peacefully and that their aim was a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
"I think that if the parties join their efforts and actively promote the six-party talks, we still have hopes for a peaceful solution to the Korean nuclear problem," Wen said in an interview today ahead of a trip to Europe.
"They (North Korea and the United States) both expressed their respective willingness to continue with the six-party talks and facilitate a solution to the issue. They both endorsed the ultimate objective of realising a nuclear-free Korean peninsula."
The nuclear crisis erupted in October 2002 when the United States said North Korea had admitted to a nuclear weapons programme. China hosted the United States, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia for two rounds of inconclusive senior-level talks on the North's nuclear programmes in August 2003 and in February this year.