Pyongyang snubbed its closest major ally Tuesday by announcing that it was pulling out of six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, and China -- which hosts the negotiations -- is keen for the North to return to the table.

The regime also said it was ending cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog, expelling its inspectors and restarting its own nuclear programme.

The move was in response to UN condemnation of its April 5 rocket launch, which North Korea insists fired a satellite into space but the United States and its allies say was a disguised long-range missile test.

It came despite China's efforts to soften the UN response and its repeated calls to resume the denuclearisation talks.

At this point, China's leaders believe the onus is on the United States to break the deadlock in one of the region's most important security questions.

"China sees the nuclear issue as a problem between the United States and North Korea," said Scott Bruce, the US operations director for the Nautilus Institute, a think tank that specialises on international affairs.

"China is waiting for the United States to make a move to resolve this issue. They will not fix the problem for the US."

The United States has some powerful means with which to bring North Korea out of its isolation, he said.

"It can recognise the country, it can end the state of perpetual insecurity that North Korea faces by being technically at war with the most powerful nation on Earth," Bruce said.

John Feffer, at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies, said the best way to get North Korea to the negotiating table was through quiet, direct diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.

North Korea has long sought direct talks with the United States, something consecutive administrations in Washington have opposed, although US President Barack Obama has not yet clearly stated his policy on this issue.

China is the North Korea's biggest trading partner and closest political ally, but it has been reluctant to exert too much pressure on Kim Jong-Il's regime for fear of destabilising it too greatly.

Beijing does not want regime change in North Korea, which could lead to a flood of refugees crossing into Chinese territory, and so the leadership in Pyongyang has felt comfortable repeatedly ignoring its requests.

In this light, Feffer said China was left with little influence.

"China has bought the car and paid for the fuel. But North Korea is in the driver's seat", Feffer said.

"Even if the car is heading off the road and toward the edge of the cliff, China can't do a lot from the passenger seat."

Still, Beijing remains determined to restart the six-nation talks -- which include the United States, Japan, South Korea and Russia -- according to Jia Qingguo from the School of International Studies at Peking University.

"China believes the six-party talks are the only effective way of peacefully resolving North Korea's nuclear issue," Jia said.

Without such a framework, the North Korean nuclear problem could escalate into a major global crisis and seriously damage Pyongyang's ties with Beijing, he warned.

"If North Korea does not return to six-party talks, it will be faced with various sanctions and condemnations from the world community," he said.

"Sino-North Korean relations (also) rely on whether North Korea returns to the six-party talks."

Other Chinese analysts insisted the negotiations were not yet dead, despite North Korea's latest actions.

"It will be difficult to restart the six-party talks quickly. But with time, there is a chance," said Cui Zhiying, a professor at the Centre for Asian Pacific Research at Shanghai's Fudan University.

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