Hill had been expected to touch down in Beijing but was forced to land in Shanghai after bad weather caused his flight to be diverted. He is now expected in the capital early Thursday, a US embassy spokesperson said.

Hill, the US envoy to the drawn-out six-nation talks on North Korea, will meet his Chinese counterpart in the negotiations, Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, on Thursday, a US embassy spokeswoman told AFP.

China is the host of the six-nation talks, which began in 2003 in an effort to end North Korea's nuclear program. They bring together the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.

The talks have been stalled since November last year after the United States placed financial sanctions on North Korea for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.

North Korea has said it will not return to the talks unless the United States lifts the sanctions, but Washington has refused to budge.

Hill's visit to Beijing comes after Wu held talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program with South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan in Beijing on Tuesday, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Hill was to travel from Beijing to Seoul on Thursday to discuss the North Korean nuclear standoff with officials there, the US State Department said last week.

North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun will add to the diplomatic activity when he visits China from May 30 to June 6. China's foreign ministry announced the visit on Wednesday.

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