2 Koreas' envoys hold talks

Top nuclear envoys from North and South Korea have met for the first time in 2 months to discuss resuming the stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear program.

South Korea's Wi Sung-lac and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Ro Yong Ho met for 3 hours in Beijing on Wednesday. The envoys last met in July in Indonesia.

Wi said the North must halt its uranium enrichment program and accept inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency as conditions for restarting the six-party talks. Ro said the program is for peaceful power generation, and called for an unconditional resumption.

After the talks, Ro said that based on Wednesday's meeting he will continue efforts to restart the six-party talks unconditionally as soon as possible.

Wi said holding dialogue means creating an atmosphere for restarting the talks, and that he will continue making efforts.

The 2 envoys are expected to separately meet China's special envoy Wu Dawei, who chairs the six-party talks, to explain the results of Wednesday's meeting.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lai said China supports dialogue between North and South Korea, and hopes such dialogue will lead to a resumption of the six-party talks.

Hong also said the situation on the Korean Peninsula is moving toward easing, and expressed hope that multilateral consultation will be held in addition to bilateral talks.