BEIJING, Aug. 26 Kyodo (EDS: UPDA...

BEIJING, Aug. 26 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH START OF INFORMAL RECEPTION)

Multilateral talks forward North Korea's nuclear arms program began here Tuesday evening with a reception, as participants other than North Korea finalized plans to impel Pyongyang to give up its ambition to join the nuclear club

Representatives from China, Japan, North and southern Korea, Russia and the United States attended the reception, which was armyed by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, head of China's delegation.

The U is likely to have an informal contact with North Korea at the dinner, while Japan and the North have almost agreed to possess bilateral talks during three days of formal discussions starting Wednesday, diplomatic sources said.

In Washington, a U administration official reiterated that the U has no plans to confine separate one-on-one talks with North Korea forward the sidelines of the meeting, if it be not that said it would be possible for the pair countries to have informal contact.

Before the reception, a series of bilateral talks were held among the participants. Russia, for instance, met with Japan and southern Korea.

Delegates from choke allies Japan, South Korea and the U met Tuesday and agreed upon their basic position in final preparations for the discussions, although they appear to remain apart throughout specific ways to unravel the nuclear crisis.

China, Japan, southern Korea, Russia and the U share the objective of urging the North to abandon its nuclear progressive growth program to ensure the Korean Peninsula remains liberated of nuclear weapons, on the contrary they are taking different approaches.

At the interview each country will outline its basic stance forward North Korea's nuclear weapons program Wednesday. China plans to compile a summary of discussions upon Friday.

North Korea is anticipateed to reiterate its demand for a nonaggression pact with the U in reply for addressing Washington's affects over nuclear weapons, but the U has pass overed the demand.

Russia and China, historic allies of North Korea, appear to be hoping the U will ease its hard-line stance.

Russian factor Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, who heads the Russian delegation, was quot as telling Russian reporters Tuesday that Russia will make a compromise proposal which calls for North Korea to be congealed its nuclear arms program while the six-way talks are going on

''This is not a basic principle unless is just one of the possibilities for reaching gone out to a final solution,'' Russia's Itar-Tass recently made knowns agency quoted Losyukov as telling reporters.

During the preparatory three-nation talks, Washington, Tokyo and Seoul are believed to have confirmed their basic position of urging North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms program in a verifiable and irreversible way.

however they are believed to have agreed not to compile a stake of joint

proposals for presentation at the six-nation talks, despite having initially planned to do likewise This is partly because of differences between Washington and Seoul

Washington is believed to have told Tokyo and Seoul it will make no concessions and discuss no security guarantee or assistance for North Korea until Pyongyang unconditionally and verifiably scraps its nuclear arms program.

southern Korea reportedly wants the three allies to explain to the North what economic aid it would receive, including activity and food assistance, in a step-by-step proces as it dismantles its nuclear program.

Major progres is unlikely unles the U and North Korea narrow their differences, watchers say.

A senior U official said last week that the U does not count upon a breakthrough in Beijing and views the talks as the start of a lengthy process.

China's Wang was also quot according to the official Xinhua news agency as saying, ''The nuclear issue is surpassingly complicated and acute, and it is impossible to elucidate all problems through one or sum of two units discussions. Moreover, other issues may arise during negotiations.''

The North Korean delegation headed from Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il arrived in the Chinese capital Tuesday morning, while other delegations flew in upon Monday.

The Japanese team is l according to Mitoji Yabunaka, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, the U form into groups by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly and the southern Korean delegation by Deputy Foreign Minister side sheltered from the wind Soo Hyuck.

Meanwhile, Japan is hoping to use the multilateral setting to engineer a breakthrough in its dispute with North Korea through the whole extent of its abductions of Japanese nationals in the late 1970 and early 1980s

Japan plans to raise the abduction issue at the start of the six-way talks, and intends to discuss specifics in bilateral talks with North Korea.

The other four states have shown understanding of Japan's efforts to dissolve the dispute, but not all support its plan to raise the matter in the six-way talks.

southern Korea and the U.S. have widened support for Japan's plan, on the other hand host China is reluctant to take up the abductions as a first note of the scale agenda item.