BEIJING, Sept 6: Efforts to drive North Korea back to stalled nuclear talks are in big trouble, the top US negotiator said on Wednesday after meeting a senior Chinese official to try and forge a breakthrough.

“I think clearly we are in a very difficult moment with the six-party talks process because the DPRK (North Korea) is not giving the signals it wants to return,” Christopher Hill told reporters in Beijing.

Mr Hill’s latest trip to the region comes amid media reports that North Korea could soon test a nuclear bomb. Pyongyang had said in February last year that it was a nuclear power but is not known to have tested an atomic weapon.

The US envoy, who is on a regional tour, said he had spoken with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei about ‘the danger that the DPRK could take additional, provocative steps’.

“We talked about the need to make very clear to the DPRK that this would be a very, very unwelcome development,” he told reporters, when asked directly about a possible nuclear test.

The North agreed in principle in September last year to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

But Pyongyang walked out of talks two months later to protest US sanctions on a Macau-based bank accused of laundering and counterfeiting money on its behalf.

The six-nation talks — involving China, the United States, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia — were further waylaid when North Korea tested ballistic missiles in July.

The tests resulted in a UN Security Council resolution which called on the global community to work together to prevent North Korea from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and urged Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks.

Mr Hill nudged China to make sure it was applying the right pressure on Pyongyang, and said Washington would be looking into possible financial and other economic sanctions against North Korea in accordance with the resolution.

“China understands that the UN Security Council resolution needs to be fully implemented. We would expect the Chinese to do the same pursuant to their obligations,” he said.

The topic was likely to soon be discussed in a meeting between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing in New York, said Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

According to South Korean lawmaker Choi Jae-Cheon, the international uproar over the missile tests has now led North Korea’s ruling circle to believe that the launches were a mistake.

“North Korea’s leadership has concluded in an internal report that the missile tests were a mistake,” Choi of the ruling Uri Party told AFP Wednesday.

“North Korea’s leadership believes the missile launch has caused unwanted political results as it deepened the country’s isolation.”

He did not say how he learned of the report but said the North was surprised by the severity of the international condemnation, including from China.

Mr Hill said he believed China was ‘disappointed’ with Pyongyang’s decision to test-fire the missiles.

“Clearly, what happened in July was a very difficult moment for China,” Hill said.

Hill arrived in Beijing from Tokyo on Tuesday as part of a five-day tour of China. He left the Chinese capital on Wednesday for visits to US diplomatic missions in Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai. He will also visit Seoul on Sunday.

KIM Jong-Il: His visit has come amid South Korean press reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was either visiting or preparing to visit China.

“I have asked and not gotten any more concrete information on these rumors, they remain as far as I’m concerned to be rumors,” Mr Hill said of the reports.

China said on Tuesday it had not made any arrangements for a visit, but previous Kim visits to Beijing have been secretive and not announced until after he returns to the North.—AFP