China says "new consensus" reached at NKorea talks

BEIJING, Dec 20 (Reuters) China's foreign minister said today that ''new consensus'' had been reached at six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programmes, but the agreement appeared to break no new ground.

''All parties reaffirm that they will implement the September 19 joint statement, they reaffirm that they will resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula through dialogue and peace and they reaffirm that they will uphold the aim of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,'' Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said in a statement on the ministry's Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn).

North Korea agreed in a September 19, 2005, accord to give up its nuclear arms in exchange for aid and security guarantees from the other five countries at the talks -- China, South Korea, the United States, Japan and Russia.

But it has since conducted a nuclear test and on Monday opened this round of negotiations -- the first in more than a year -- by outlining a laundry list of demands it wanted met before it would begin to move toward scrapping its atomic arsenal.

REUTERS LL VV1614