Six-party talks aimed at ending the crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions resumed in Beijing today after a one-year hiatus with positive signals from both Washington and Pyongyang raising hopes for progress.
While few expect a breakthrough this week, the atmosphere ahead of the fourth round of discussions between the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, Japan and China has been upbeat.
The United States held a rare one-on-one meeting with North Korea yesterday and another today that sources said lasted more than an hour, raising hopes of a less confrontational approach to talks which have dragged on for nearly three years.
"Opening talks is important. But what's more important is to achieve actual progress such as denuclearisation," North Korean chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan had told Tuesday's opening session.
"Our delegation is fully ready for this and we believe other parties including the United States are also ready for it."
US negotiator Christopher Hill responded in kind, with reassurances that Washington believed the North, once part of an "axis of evil", was a sovereign state which it would not attack.
"We view DPRK's sovereignty as a matter of fact. The United States has absolutely no intention to invade or attack the DPRK," Hill said, using the North's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Despite the upbeat signals, distrust is still great and the stakes are high. A North Korean source told Russia's Interfax news agency that major disagreements remained after yesterday's bilateral meeting.
The United States was sticking by its position that improved ties, security guarantees and energy assistance could only come after North Korea scrapped its nuclear weapons programmes, the source said.
Qin Gang, a spokesman for the Chinese delegation, called the first day of talks a "sound foundation" but quoted Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing as saying they still faced hard issues.
There may be "new difficulties and twists and turns because it involves historical factors, Cold War background and present-day interests", Qin said.