China wants early 6-party talk resmuption

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BEIJING, June 26 (UPI) -- China, stressing North Korea's denuclearization should be achieved through dialogue, says it will work for an early restart of the six-party talks on the issue.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China insists on denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, settlement of the issue through dialogue and preservation of peace and stability in northeast Asia, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Qin said China played its role as a responsible member of the international community and other sides bear the responsibility of implementing the U.N. Security Council resolution in a serious manner, the report said.

The resolution strongly condemned North Korea's May 25 underground nuclear test, its second since 2006, and subsequent missile tests. The document approved further tightening of sanctions against the Communist country.

North Korea has threatened to conduct more missile tests in retaliation for the resolution and has withdrawn from the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Qin said measures to be taken against North Korea should not affect the life of its people or its regular trade.

The six-party talks on the North's denuclearization have stalled since December over Pyongyang's objections to verification methods. The talks include China, the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The verification deals with ways to determine the accuracy of the nuclear inventory given by North Korea in June 2008 and to set a deadline for completing the disabling of its main Yongbyon reactor in return for economic aid from the other parties. The sticking point relates to North Korea's refusal to let international inspectors take samples from soil and waste at its nuclear facilities.