BEIJING, Aug 26: China urged on Tuesday a “calm and patient attitude” in upcoming six-way talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis as Russia’s delegate said all agreed a new round of negotiations should happen before year-end.

“China hopes all parties will ... show sincerity to solve the issue, adopt a calm and patient attitude, (and) respect each other,” said Wang Yi, Beijing’s top delegate at the talks, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Wang, a vice foreign minister, also called on the six countries’ delegates to “conduct consultations on an equal footing, seek common grounds and reduce disputes,” Xinhua reported one day before the start of the three-day talks.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying one of the tasks facing the delegates was to “create an atmosphere that is conducive for conducting future negotiations.”

“All delegations agree that this process should not be dragged out, and that we should have another round of talks before the end of the year, at the latest,” Losyukov said according to the report.

The delegations met late on Tuesday for an informal one-hour reception at the Diaoyutai State Guest House, the venue of the next three days’ talks.

All negotiators had a chance to meet each other, and smiling US and North Korean delegates were seen engaging in small talk, a Japanese official said.

Vice Foreign Minister Wang met with North Korea’s 10-man delegation, headed by career diplomat and China expert Kim Yong-Il, soon after it got off the plane from Pyongyang, South Korean and Chinese officials said.

It was not clear what was discussed, although Wang later warned the crisis would not be solved in a single round of negotiations.

“The nuclear issue is very complicated and acute, and it is impossible to solve all problems through one or two discussions,” he said.

“Moreover, other issues may arise during negotiations,” he added without being specific.

Wang also cautioned against any nation pushing too hard.

“We disagree with such actions as making sanctions or inserting pressure, and oppose war,” he said, stressing that North Korea had made “important and resolute decisions” in order for the talks to take place.

North Korea had insisted on face-to-face negotiations with the United States and only backed down after China dispatched a special envoy to Pyongyang.

China is the leading energy and food provider to the Stalinist regime and holds more influence over its neighbour than any other country.

Together with Russia — the other nation with close access to leaders of the hermetic state — China has offered to issue an official security guarantee to North Korea, which the United States refuses to do in a formal treaty.

Pyongyang also wants from Washington diplomatic normalization and a promise not to hinder North Korea’s international trade.

While the North is not believed to have met on a one-on-one basis with any nation other than China, Japan said it too was pressing for bilateral talks to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted by Pyongyang decades ago.

“We hope we can have bilateral talks with North Korea but nothing has been decided yet,” said Tomoko Ako, a liaison officer at the Japanese embassy here.

Wang also met on Tuesday with US envoy James Kelly and delegates from Japan, Russia and South Korea.

Kelly, meanwhile, sat down in a trilateral setting for two hours with South Korean negotiator Lee Soo-Hyuck and Japan’s chief representative Mitoji Yabunaka.

“There were in-depth discussions and exchanges over opinion about the general agenda to be discussed at the six-party talks,” South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Shin Pongkil told reporters.

A Japanese foreign ministry statement called the meeting “a favourable meeting of minds.”

“Japan, the United States and South Korea have agreed to continue close coordination through the six-way talks as well,” it said.

The three sides met earlier this month in Washington to settle logistics and technical matters, but no word on the outcome of that meeting was made public.—AFP