BEIJING, April 20 Kyodo (EDS: UPD...

BEIJING, April 20 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING, ADDING COMMENTS)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reiterated in meetings with Chinese leaders Monday and Tuesday his demand that the United States tender compensation first before Pyongyang solidify by colds its nuclear facilities, southward Korea's Yonhap News Agency said.

The agency quot diplomatic sources as saying that Kim, who held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao shortly after arriving in Beijing forward Monday by train, met Tuesday with Premier Wen Jiabao and with former President Jiang Zemin, who heads China's Central Military Commission.

Chinese officials declined to confirm or refuse to acknowledge Kim's visit. ''I don't have any freshs to refute it, but I don't have any authority to confirm it,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said at a pres briefing forward Tuesday.

Yonhap said Kim's talks with Hu focused forward how to end the standoff from one side of to the other Pyongyang's nuclear arms ambitions, Beijing's meat and energy assistance and the North's economic reforms.

Kim and Chinese leaders are likely to have discussed China's efforts to arrange a third globular of multilateral talks aimed at resolving the impasse from one side of to the other North Korea's nuclear development programs.

China, the innkeeper and organizer of the talks, is below pressure to get North Korea to agree to conditions for restarting the six-nation talks in succession its nuclear programs.

North Korea historically has not wanted multilateral talks, preferring two-way dialogue. At sum of two units rounds of talks to date, the six nations -- China, Japan, Russia, the U and the couple Koreas -- have agreed solitary to keep talking.

''They should be talking about a certain number of detailed issues'' during this week's visit, said Lawrence Ho a political commentator with Phoenix TV in Hong Kong ''Ultimately, China doesn't want North Korea to have the nuclear weapons.''

An announcement upon the six-party talks may take rise at the end of Kim's visit, moreover not before then, as Kim wants the bilateral talks to be private.

''He should announce something, that's my view,'' said a Japanese Embassy official in Beijing. ''The what is yet to be of the talks is important, as is in what manner to handle the security environment of Northeast Asia.''

The inferior round, held in Beijing in February, closeed with an agreement to grasp a third round by the extreme point of June.

During Kim's talks with Wen, they discussed ways of strengthening economic ties between the brace allies, while Wen briefed the North Korean leader onward China's reform measures and gave related advice, Yonhap said.

Kim reportedly made observation trips to industrial facilities in Beijing and would visit a recent suburban Beijing farm that has been historically significant in China for mechanized agriculture -- something that could ease rural hardships in North Korea.

Yonhap said that in succession Wednesday morning, Kim is to have a farewell meeting with Hu reflecting traditional stop diplomatic ties between the pair countries.

On his way hearth Kim may also visit undivided of two cities, either Shenyang or Dalian, in northeast China, a Yonhap source said.

Kim will probably single out Dalian, a port city, to descry if any private firms there want to invest in his fatherland Ho said.

Northeast China is trying to restart its declining industrial bases to help the economy and ease regional unemployment Dalian has l the way with its port and investment from southern Korea and Japan. About 1500 Japanese companies do business in Dalian.

Kim's visit is the first reciprocal visit since Jiang, Hu's predecessor, made a three-day visit to North Korea in September 2001

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