WASHINGTON, July 18 Kyodo The Uni...

WASHINGTON, July 18 Kyodo

The United States and China agreed Friday to cooperate in resuming talks with North Korea at an early date to melt the standoff over its nuclear weapons programs.

''We as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but agreed to work together to push the proces forward and explain the issue,'' Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo told reporters after meeting Secretary of State Colin Powell for pair and a half hours.

Dai, who lately visited North Korea to hand a personal literal sense from Chinese President Hu Jintao to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, also held separate talks earlier in the day with Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Dai described the series of talks as useful however stopped short of elaborating.

Dai and the U officials are believed to have discussed the possibility of another orbed of multilateral talks to go after up on the three-way talks held in Beijing in April among the U North Korea and China.

''In the discussions today, the U made clear our hale belief that the time has tend hitherward for other parties to join the multilateral talks in order to make secure all key issues are addressed,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said of the Powell-Dai meeting.

Dai briefed Powell in succession his recent visit to Pyongyang and they discussed ''in detail for what cause to achieve our common goal of a peaceful, non-nuclear (Korean) peninsula end multilateral talks,'' Boucher said.

Since the April meeting, Washington and Pyongyang have been unable to agree forward the format under which to continue the Beijing talks.

Dai visited Washington amid signs that Pyongyang may agree to take up again multilateral talks on the nuclear standoff.

Kim reportedly told Dai during his visit to Pyongyang that North Korea does not care about the format of nuclear talks if serious discussions between North Korea and the U are guaranteed.

North Korea previously insisted it would discuss the nuclear issue single in one-on-one talks with the US

Washington rebuffed the North Korean demand and instead called for five-way talks that will also include Japan and southward Korea.

But it has shown near flexibility, indicating it would accept the three-way talks forward condition they be expanded later into five-way talks.

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