China and U.S. Have ‘Useful’ Talks on North Korea

BEIJING — On the heels of a North Korean plea for negotiations to end the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, the Obama administration’s top envoys on North Korean issues met on Thursday with their Chinese counterparts for what American officials later called “useful” discussions.

The talks followed a stop on Tuesday and Wednesday in Seoul at which the American special envoy, Stephen Bosworth, said he was hopeful that serious negotiation on North Korea would begin soon.

Mr. Bosworth and Ambassador Sung Kim, the United States envoy to the suspended six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, met in Beijing with Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and Wu Dawei, China’s representative to the talks, as well as Wang Jiarui, a senior foreign affairs official in the Communist Party’s International Department.

The two sides gave no indication of the specifics of their meeting, but Mr. Bosworth was widely expected to seek details of a meeting last month between China’s top foreign policy official, State Councilor Dai Bingguo, and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Il.

China, North Korea’s closest ally, has come under increasing pressure both from other nations and domestic critics to take a harder line toward the North after its Nov. 23 artillery attack on a South Korean island in which two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed.

In the past week, North Korea has offered a series of overtures seeking dialogue with the South. On Thursday, South Korea rejected North Korea’s offer of “unconditional” peace talks “anytime and anywhere, letting bygones be bygones,” according to local news media reports.

The offer from Pyongyang, made on Wednesday, followed New Year’s commentaries in North Korean newspapers calling for a dialogue with South Korea and a relaxation of tensions “as soon as possible.”

South Korean officials, however, quickly pointed out that the recent statements from Pyongyang follow a pattern of provocative acts followed by calls for talks that seek concessions.

“We have emphasized that it is important for North Korea to show a sincere attitude about inter-Korean dialogue and inter-Korean relations,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Kim Young-sun, said in a report carried by the South Korean news service Yonhap.

Relations between the Koreas are perhaps more strained than at any time since the end of the Korean War in 1953. The crisis began last March, after a torpedo attack attributed to North Korea sank a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, killing 46 South Korean sailors. North Korea has denied responsibility for the attack.

In November, Pyongyang revealed the existence of a modern and previously unknown uranium-enrichment facility. That development was quickly followed by the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island.

The South responded with a string of large and provocative military exercises, including joint maneuvers led by an American aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea.

South Korea insists that relations cannot improve until the North apologizes for the artillery barrage and the sinking of the Cheonan.

Mr. Bosworth and Mr. Sung travel next to Tokyo for more talks. In Washington, China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, met Wednesday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for what were called lengthy talks on North Korea. The State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, later expressed hope that China and the United States would reach agreement on addressing the crisis when Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington on Jan. 19.

Michael Wines reported from Beijing, and Kevin Drew from Hong Kong. Sharon LaFraniere contributed research in Beijing for new york times.