BEIJING - North Korea test-fired missiles on US Independence Day, sought bilateral talks with the United States on Thanksgiving, and declared itself a nuclear power during Chinese New Year celebrations.

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. [Reuters]

So envoys to six-party talks in Beijing and the not-so-merry throng of journalists tailing them might be forgiven for wondering whether North Korea's penchant for "holiday" diplomacy will keep them far from home this Christmas.

In China, the holiday passes largely without celebration. But in the lobbies of the Western hotels where envoys give impromptu news conferences, there is some holiday spirit in the air.

Giant Christmas trees loom in the background, lights twinkling as US chief delegate Christopher Hill, Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae and other envoys discuss weighty issues such as how to get Pyongyang to renounce nuclear bombs.

But at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where the talks are taking place behind closed doors around a giant hexagonal table, the mood is decidedly more Ebenezer Scrooge than Santa Claus.

"Certainly there was nothing I heard in the plenary to fill me up with a sense of holiday spirit," Hill said.

His comments followed a day of talks at which North Korea presented a list of demands it insisted be met before it would consider disarmament, including an end to UN sanctions, scrapping of US financial curbs and delivery of a light water atomic reactor.

Given the response from Hill, who declared Washington was running out of patience, Pyongyang negotiator Kim Kye-gwan might as well have been presenting a wishlist of gifts to Santa.

ROOM AT THE INN

Diplomats at the talks said China was working behind the scenes to get the negotiations wound up before the holiday. Publicly, however, Beijing maintains there is still room at the inn if the need arises.

"If they are willing to spend Christmas here, we welcome them," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

North Korea has deliberately timed announcements and moves to coincide with holidays as a negotiating tactic, diplomats say.

"The North Koreans are very, very cleverly using holidays to put people in a weak position," said one Western diplomat. "They do it on purpose."

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