BEIJING - Six-nation talks on N.Korea's nuclear program resumed Monday for the first time in more than a year, a test of whether DPRK is willing to negotiate after its surprise atomic test rattled the region this fall.

Six-Party talks on North Korea's nuclear program resume in Beijing with top envoys representing their respective countries seated around the table for discussions at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Monday December 18, 2006. [AP]

Head Chinese delegate Wu Dawei formally declared the talks open at a Chinese state guesthouse in Beijing, calling on envoys to discuss implementation of a September 2005 agreement in which the North pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid.

"After hearing each country's opening speech, especially North Korea's opening speech, we will be able to tell where the six-party talks will go," South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo told reporters Monday before the talks.

North Korea agreed to return to the six-nation negotiations just weeks after its Oct. 9 nuclear test, saying it wanted to discuss US financial restrictions against a Macau bank.

That issue will be addressed in separate US-North Korean meetings, but they were delayed until Tuesday because the North Korean delegates responsible for those talks had yet to arrive, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

The arms talks have been plagued by delays and discord since they began in August 2003.

The US has sought to line up support against Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions by enlisting its neighbors ¡ª including China, Japan, Russia and South Korea ¡ª in the discussions.

Beijing brought Pyongyang and Washington together just a few weeks later to agree to resume nuclear discussions.

North Korea had boycotted the talks in response to the financial restrictions imposed by the United States. Washington had accused North Korea of using the Macau bank in scheme to launder money and print counterfeit US currency.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the US nuclear envoy, says the main task now is to implement an agreement from September 2005 ¡ª the only accord negotiators have reached so far ¡ª when the North promised to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid. The alternative, he says, is sanctions.

1

2