China hopes North Korea nuclear talks will continue

HONG KONG, Feb 10 (AFP) - China said on Thursday it hoped that six-party talks with North Korea would continue following Pyongyang's announcement it was indefinitely boycotting talks on dismantling its nuclear programme.
"China has noticed the reports saying the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will suspend its participation in the six-party talks for an indefinite period," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.
"China hopes the talks to be continued," the spokesman added in a short statement carried by China's official Xinhua news agency.
North Korea's foreign ministry has said that Pyongyang has developed nuclear weapons to protect itself against a US attack and has no plans to resume the talks aimed at curbing its nuclear weapons drive.
The last set of six-party talks, involving Russia, China, Japan and South Korea as well as North Korea and the United States, took place in June last year.

02/10/2005 14:38 GMT - AFP