U.S. backs China bid for informal N.Korea talks

SEOUL, July 8 - The United States, facing opposition to proposed U.N. sanctions against North Korea for this week's missile tests, said on Saturday it backed China's proposal for informal talks.

"The Chinese have talked about putting together a six-party informal. We both support that," the top U.S. envoy for North Korea, Christopher Hill, told reporters in Seoul after a meeting with a South Korean official.

	U.S. envoy to the six-party talks Christopher Hill (2nd R) meets his South Korean counterpart Chun Young-woo as U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow (R) participates in Seoul, July 8, 2006. [Reuters]

China has stepped up efforts to break the deadlock on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue as senior Chinese negotiators and their foreign counterparts met on Friday to discuss Pyongyang's missile tests.

State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan said China has been committed to preserving peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, making it nuclear-free and pushing forward with the Six-Party Talks.

"We will continue to make constructive efforts and maintain close contact with all sides" on the nuclear issue, he told US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill during a one-hour meeting.

Hill said his country attaches importance to the six-nation talks and is willing to settle the problems through diplomacy.

Hill was in China on Friday and flies to Japan on Sunday.

The six-party talks -- joining the two Koreas with Russia, China, Japan and the United States -- came to a stop last November. But Hill said Washington was not about to make concessions to bring North Korea back to the table.

SEPTEMBER DEAL

Last September,  North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear weapons and programmes in return for, among other things, the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy and to normalised ties with Washington and Tokyo.

1

2