US: The US and North Korea circled each other yesterday before a tricky round of talks aimed at making Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons programme, with hosts China cautioning the talks could be a lengthy process.
Analysts play down the chance of a breakthrough in today's six-nation talks, saying they are likely to founder on the deep distrust and hostility between Washington and Pyongyang.
The talks will try to resolve a 16-month standoff over North Korea's nuclear programme and US calls for Pyongyang to dismantle it. Also present at the talks are Russia, South Korea, Japan and China, which is seeking a more active diplomatic role in the region and is keen to play honest broker in the dispute.
While Washington wants the North to stop building nuclear weapons, the North Koreans wants their concerns about security to be addressed and also want economic aid to boost the Stalinist country's ailing economy.
China is the nearest thing to an ally that North Korea has, but Beijing is eager not to jeopardise growing trade links with Washington and other participants in the talks. China wants a compromise resulting in a nuclear-free neighbour in the Korean peninsula, but one which will also address North Korea's security fears.
"All the parties concerned are making serious and positive preparations. We hope this will be a smooth round of talks, and we're hoping to get more results," Chinese Foreign Ministry said spokeswoman Ms Zhang Qiyue.
"We believe the North Korean nuclear issue is complicated, and seeking solutions is a long, drawn-out process.
"The Chinese side hopes that consensus can be reached. But we don't believe it's possible to reach consensus on all issues."