A key US envoy starts a series of talks in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing today in an effort to revive crumbling negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes.
Pyongyang has threatened to boycott nuclear talks involving North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the US on its atomic ambitions because of a US crackdown on its finances.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il returns a salute as he reviews a military parade in Pyongyang to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the communist party in this October 10, 2005 file photo.
Pyongyang wants Washington to end the sanctions. The United States has clamped down on several companies it suspects of aiding North Korea in counterfeiting, money laundering and the drug trade, saying the illicit business has helped fund Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programmes.
The chief US negotiator for the talks, Christopher Hill, is scheduled to meet Japan and South Korea's chief negotiators today and then meet Chinese officials tmorrow, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told a news briefing today.
The visit comes after North Korea's Kim Jong-Il arrived in China yesterday, according to regional media reports. However, both countries have been coy about the reported visit and has not officially confirmed it.
A Japanese foreign ministry source said the timing of Mr Hill's Asian trip might have been prompted by the reported visit to China of the North Korean leader.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman today said Beijing's chief negotiator, Wu Dawei, met Japanese chief negotiator Kenichiro Sasae on Sunday and also recently met South Korea's top envoy, Song Min-soon, on the six-party talks.