N. Korea Nuke Summit Opens

North Korea and five other nations convened delicate talks Wednesday to resolve a persistent dispute over Pyongyang's nuclear program, with diplomats from all sides expressing hope for progress in the 15-month old stalemate.

Delegates put their hands together for a photo as they entered China's state guesthouse for the meetings. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi opened the meeting.

"The recent flurry of diplomacy is good preparation for these talks and helps in understanding," he said.

The talks, months in the making, are the second round to include both Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan. A first round in August, also held in Beijing, ended with little concrete progress and only vague promises to meet again.

The meeting opened hours after North Korea demanded compensation in exchange for freezing its weapons program — a common maneuver for the North, which often deploys such statements as leverage in sensitive situations.

"Only if the compensation issue is settled can the North Korean freeze plan be achieved," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying in Pyongyang, the North's capital, by China's official Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday.

"If the `freeze first, compensate later' question is raised in these talks, North Korea will resolutely oppose it," the spokesman said in language that was nevertheless delicate for the North.

In December, North Korea proposed freezing its nuclear activities in return for economic aid and other concessions from the United States. But Washington demanded that Pyongyang start dismantling its nuclear programs first.

The talks convened after months of efforts to get all six countries on board for the dispute, which is largely between North Korea and the United States. The previous six-party meeting, held in August, ended with no hint of agreement and only vague promises to meet again.

North Korea's partners in the talks all have publicly expressed desire for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. At issue are allegations that Pyongyang has a uranium-based weapons program as well as its known plutonium-based one. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's government has denied having a uranium-based program.

The latest meeting was brokered by Beijing, which is in a unique position as North Korea's last major communist ally and an economic partner of the United States and the other nations involved. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly is leading the U.S. delegation.

"We are undertaking a significant yet arduous task," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo told delegates at a welcome dinner Tuesday. "However, where there is a will, there is a way."

Before Pyongyang's statement Tuesday afternoon, delegates from the six nations — North Korea included — sounded largely upbeat notes as they arrived in the Chinese capital. The North's Vice Foreign Minister, Kim Kye Gwan, said "the circumstance of the talks is better than the previous one."

"We appreciate the efforts done by the Chinese side. We will do our best to make out good results at the talks," said Kim, as quoted by Xinhua.

China prescribed realistic expectations for the talks and said any long-term solution would probably require more time.

"The Chinese side hopes that consensus can be reached. But we don't believe it's possible to reach consensus on all issues," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Tuesday. It was a notion she reiterated several times, suggesting China's unease about overinflated hopes for a quick breakthrough.

Still, Zhang added, "We hope this will be a smooth round of talks, and we're hoping to get more results."

The North has been "earnest and serious" about resolving the nuclear issue, Xinhua said, citing Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China's top negotiator, who met with Kim after he arrived.

Wednesday's opening was preceded by a flurry of diplomatic activity.

Japan said North Korea had expressed "readiness" to abolish its nuclear program, and South Korea said the United States was considering Seoul's proposal to deliver "countermeasures" to the North in return for dismantling its nuclear programs.

"The United States shares a significant understanding of the conditions we attached to the proposed North Korean nuclear freeze," Lee Soo-hyuck, the South Korean negotiator, said after meeting with Kelly and Japanese Foreign Ministry Director General Mitoji Yabunaka.

The United States had no immediate comment on the matter. Delegates from Seoul and Pyongyang met late Tuesday to discuss South Korea's proposal, and Lee said later that the North presented no "specific disagreement" with a nuclear freeze.