BEIJING - China Wednesday welcomed the progress the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States have made in their second round of high-level dialogue.

"We have noticed the reports about the second round of the DPRK-US high-level dialogue, and China welcomes the progress have been made," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a press briefing.

China had been maintaining close communications with both sides, Jiang said.

Jiang also stressed the importance of resuming the six-party talks as soon as possible. The talks, which involve the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, were launched in 2003 but stalled in December 2008 after finishing the sixth round.

China will continue to make efforts with relevant parties for the resumption of the talks, Jiang said.

Both officials from the United States and the DPRK said Tuesday progress was made on some points after two days of direct talks in Geneva.

The first-round dialogue was held in late July in New York.