Six-party talks urged on nuclear issue

BEIJING, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill is in Beijing to talk with Chinese officials about resuming six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue.

Hill was to meet with his Chinese counterpart, vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, and brief him about a recent meeting in Berlin with KimKye Gwan, a top negotiator for North Korea, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

"I will ask him about his thoughts on when we can schedule the next round of six-party talks, because we'd like to do that as soon as possible," Hill told reporters in Beijing.

The six-party talks involve China, North Korea, South Korea), the United States, Japan and Russia. The first such talks were held in 2003.