North Korea and the United States are scheduled in meet in Beijing on Dec. 18 to resume the six-way nuclear negotiations that also involve China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

Next week's talks will be the first six-nation talks since North Korea conducted a nuclear bomb test on Oct. 9, sparking stringent U.N.-backed sanctions against the reclusive country.

The meeting comes at a time when U.S. President George W. Bush, whose Republicans lost control of the Congress in midterm elections, is under increasing pressure to talk directly with North Korea to resolve the nuclear crisis.

South Korean government officials expressed hope the upcoming talks would make concrete progress towards persuading North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons, saying there is no deadline for the negotiations. The open-ended round may break for Christmas and resume in January, they said.

On Tuesday, Chun Yung-woo, Seoul's chief nuclear envoy, said he expected the North would be tempted to give up the nuclear drive if it is given strong incentives that would help revive the country's battered economy.

"I believe it would be a good chance to force North Korea to abide by its non-nuclear promise if there are security guarantees and political and economic incentives that the North cannot ignore," Chun told a Seoul forum attended by a group of U.S. scholars.

He said North Korea "stands at a critical juncture in their fate" and should seize "this historic opportunity" to end its economic troubles and diplomatic isolation. "North Korea should stop playing games and demonstrate their genuine commitment to denuclearization by taking bold, concrete steps to implement their share of obligations under the (Sept. 19) joint statement," he said.

Under the Sept. 19 joint statement, the first formal document since the six-nation talks began in August 2003, the North agreed to abandon its existing nuclear weapons and all related programs as well as return to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty "at an early date."

In return, the North will benefit from energy aid from South Korea, talks to normalize relations with the United States and Japan, negotiations on the provision of light-water reactors to the North "at an appropriate time" as well as the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean peninsula to replace the armistice which ended the three-year Korean War in 1953.

But no further progress has since been made on implementing the joint statement and the six-way nuclear talks have been deadlocked as North Korea has boycotted the meeting since November last year after the United States slapped restrictions on a Macau-based bank accused of laundering money for North Korea.

Under the U.S. measure, Banco Delta Asia has frozen $24 million of North Korea's holdings in some 50 accounts and cut off transactions with the communist country -- a move believed to stem Pyongyang's cash flow.

The North has called for the United States to lift the measure on BDA in a show of trust before seeking progress in the nuclear talks, a demand rejected by Washington which said the financial issue is not relevant to the nuclear talks but a matter to be handled by law enforcement authorities.

Chun pointed out the financial dispute has proven to be one of the biggest obstacles to the disarmament talks, saying such an issue should be shunned at the upcoming nuclear talks to focus negotiations on denuclearization.

"As the BDA has demonstrated, bringing thorny bilateral issues into the six-party talks can hold back the denuclearization process," he said.

Many analysts in Seoul say the North is unlikely to accept the U.S.-proposed list of actions that Pyongyang needs to conduct for an "early harvest," including stopping a graphite-moderated reactor, shutting down a nuclear test site, allowing the return of U.N. nuclear inspectors and reporting its list of nuclear-related programs and facilities.

If the North carries out these measures, Washington could restart heavy oil supply and discuss economic aid, normalize bilateral ties and sign a peace treaty with Pyongyang, according to diplomatic sources.

"But North Korea is unlikely to accept the U.S. proposal," said Hong Hyon-ik, a research fellow at Seoul's private Sejong Institute. "Rather, the nuclear-armed North is likely to demand bigger concessions from the United States," he predicted.

related report

China calls for flexibility in NKorea nuclear talks
Beijing (AFP) Dec 12 - China said Tuesday that it wanted substantial progress to be made when six-nation talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program resume next week, as it called for flexibility from all sides.

"We hope all sides can show flexibility and a pragmatic attitude to achieve a positive result in the talks," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said of the negotiations that begin on Monday.

"China is ready to maintain close contact with all parties concerned and play a constructive role toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and lasting peace in northeast Asia."

The six-party talks -- involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China -- began in 2003 with the aim of convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.

But North Korea pulled out of the talks in November last year in protest at US financial sanctions against it.

It then conducted its first nuclear weapons test on October 9, triggering global condemnation -- including from closest ally China -- as well as United Nations sanctions.

Just over two weeks later, under heavy international pressure, North Korea agreed to return to the talks, and China on Monday announced the long-awaited start date of December 18.

Qin said delegates to the talks would discuss ways to implement a joint agreement made in September last year through the six-party forum for North Korea to give up its nuclear program.

"We hope that the talks can achieve results. We hope the six-party talks are able to substantially advance the goal of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Qin said.

"(But) I'm not a fortune teller. I can't predict the progress of the talks."

In the September deal, North Korea agreed to verifiably abandon its nuclear weapons program in return for security guarantees, energy benefits and other aid.

But the next round of talks in November failed to make any progress and North Korea then pulled out of the negotiations because of the US financial sanctions.

Qin said that success in the upcoming talks would "depend on the efforts of all sides".

The discussions will be held in a "bilateral and multilateral" fashion as in previous rounds, he said.

No end date has been set for the next round of talks, Qin added.

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