Nuclear envoys head to Beijing ahead of Korea talks

SEOUL, Nov 26 (Reuters) Chief envoys to talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme will converge in Beijing this week to prepare for a formal round of negotiations expected to resume soon, officials said today.

North Korea said last month it would return to the table after staying away for more than a year on the condition there would be discussions on lifting a financial crackdown by Washington on a Macau bank where Pyongyang's funds are frozen.

''The schedule is flexible and the idea is not for all the envoys to get together,'' a South Korean official said by telephone.

''But it is getting pretty close to the talks,'' he said, adding the meetings in Beijing will likely be bilateral.

South Korea's chief negotiator Chun Yung-woo plans to fly to Beijing tomorrow to talk strategy with the Chinese, the South Korean official said.

South Korean and US officials have said the new round of the talks will have to produce substantive progress on implementing an agreement in principle reached in September last year or risk losing credibility.

A Japanese government source said its chief negotiator, Kenichiro Sasae, was expected to fly to Beijing tomorrow and meet with the Chinese host of the talks, Wu Dawei, and also planned to meet US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill.

China is urging North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan to come to Beijing on Tuesday, the source said.

REUTERS SSC RK1515