Defiant North Korea returns to talks

BEIJING — Six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program resumed early today for the first time in more than a year, a test of whether the secretive communist regime is willing to negotiate after its surprise atomic test rattled the region this fall.

Head Chinese delegate Wu Dawei formally declared the talks open at a Chinese state guesthouse in Beijing, calling on envoys to discuss implementation of a September 2005 agreement in which the North pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid.

"After hearing each country's opening speech, especially North Korea's opening speech, we will be able to tell where the six-party talks will go," South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo told reporters today before the talks.

North Korea agreed to return to the six-nation negotiations just weeks after its Oct. 9 nuclear test, saying it wanted to discuss U.S. financial restrictions against a Macau bank where the regime held accounts.

That issue will be addressed in separate U.S.-North Korean meetings, but they were delayed until Tuesday because the North Korean delegates responsible for those talks had yet to arrive, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

The arms talks have been plagued by delays and discord since they began in August 2003.

The United States has sought to line up support against Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions by enlisting its neighbors — including China, Japan, Russia and South Korea — in the discussions.

The North exploited divisions among the United States and its partners in an effort to change the subject and buy time to develop its atomic arsenal.

But North Korea's nuclear test of a low-yield nuclear device seemed to stiffen the will of other countries — particularly China — to persuade it to disarm.

Beijing joined a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning North Korea for its nuclear test, and brought Pyongyang and Washington together just a few weeks later to agree to resume nuclear discussions.

North Korea had boycotted the talks in response to the financial restrictions imposed by the United States. Washington had accused North Korea of using the Macau bank in scheme to launder money and print counterfeit U.S. currency.