Top China And U.S. Diplomats Discuss North Korea

U.S. Secretary of State and Chinese Foreign Minister discussed stalled talks on North Korea's nuclear programme.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing discussed stalled talks on North Korea's nuclear programme in a telephone conversation on Sunday, China's foreign ministry said.

The two top diplomats talked about problems in the six-party disarmament talks and also touched on China-U.S. relations, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn), that gave no further details.

The latest round of six-party talks between North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States ended with no progress in Beijing on Thursday, derailed by a dispute over $25 million in bank accounts which Pyongyang wants unfrozen.

Last Monday, the U.S. Treasury announced that the U.S. and North Korean governments had agreed that the funds would be released. North Korea wanted the funds put into a Bank of China account held by Pyongyang's Foreign Trade Bank.

But the North Korean envoy went home after the promised transfer did not materialise.

Daniel Glaser, the U.S. Treasury Department's top North Korea negotiator arrived in Beijing on Sunday to help sort out details of the planned transfer of funds from a Macanese bank.

Chinese chief envoy Wu Dawei said last week that the problem hinged on convincing the Bank of China to accept the transfer. He added that moving the money was not as simple as writing a check or shipping cash in the back of a truck.