BEIJING - The recent improvement in Washington-Pyongyang relations is a significant achievement of the Six-Party Talks and China hopes the talks can resume as soon as possible, China's senior diplomats said on Sunday.

The Six-Party Talks, which involve China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan, have been suspended since April 2009, due to the withdrawal of Pyongyang.

But since July of last year, the US and the DPRK have conducted a series of high-level, confidence-building meetings, including one held in Beijing in late February, the first since the death of former DPRK leader Kim Jong-il in December.

"We have witnessed that the two countries have taken positive measures recently to improve their relations," China's Special Representative on Korean Peninsula Affairs Wu Dawei told reporters on the sidelines of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee.

"We need to pay great attention to it (the improvement)," he said. "It can help them change the hostile relations from the Korean War (1950-53). And if they are willing to do more, it will benefit both their bilateral ties and the peace of the Korean Peninsula."

On Feb 29, Pyongyang agreed to suspend uranium enrichment activities at Yongbyon and confirmed the disablement of the 5-megawatt reactor and associated facilities. And it agreed to allow the return of UN nuclear inspectors to the country.

In return, the US said it would provide 240,000 tons of nutritional assistance for women and children.

The talks to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue started in 2003. In addition to the denuclearization on the peninsula, the six countries also share other goals, Wu said, such as the improvement of bilateral ties, the security cooperation mechanism in Northeast Asia and regional economic collaboration.

"We have common interests in realizing those goals and we should continue to pursue that," he said.

Though the six parties have not gathered for three years, all types of consultations have taken place. "China is in close contact with the US and the DPRK during their bilateral meetings," he added.

Zhang Zhijun, China's deputy foreign minister, told China Daily on Sunday that the Six-Party Talks should resume as soon as possible, based on the positive momentum of US-DPRK relations, but the time has not been set yet.

"We think the Six-Party Talks are an important and efficient mechanism to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and they have made a contribution to regional peace and stability," he said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visited the ROK on Friday and it was reported that Beijing and Seoul will work together to encourage Pyongyang to take "concrete actions" to implement its agreement with Washington.

The US and the DPRK will finalize details of the food aid in Beijing on Wednesday, according to the US Department of State.

China Daily

(China Daily 03/05/2012 page5)