China sees no deadline for North Korea talks

BEIJING, Dec 12 (Reuters) The next round of six-party talks could make concrete progress toward persuading North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons, China said today, but no deadline has been set for negotiators.

Talks will resume on December 18 after more than a year's suspension, China announced yesterday.

''I'm not a fortune teller. I can't predict the progress of the talks,'' Qin Gang, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

He said the talks would focus on how to implement the September joint statement from last year ''in a comprehensive and balanced way,'' adding that negotiators faced no deadline to reach an agreement.

Asked by reporters about China's expectations for progress in this round of talks, Qin said: ''That depends on what type of efforts the six parties make.

''We hope that the talks can achieve results. We hope the six-party talks are able to substantially advance the goal of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.'' The on-off talks between the Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China stalled late last year over Pyongyang's objections to US financial penalties. Washington said North Korea was counterfeiting US currency and trafficking drugs.

The fresh diplomatic push comes two months after North Korea tested a nuclear device on October 9, stirring a wave of international condemnation that brought even its long-time supporter, China, behind UN Security Council sanctions.

Pyongyang later agreed to return to the six-party talks, but it has taken weeks of diplomatic shuttling to agree on a date.

REUTERS SSC BST1343