China is not optimistic about North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons program but believes Pyongyang has shown signs of flexibility in ending the crisis, a Japanese envoy said here on Monday.
Former vice foreign minister Ichiro Aisawa held talks on Monday morning with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, who joined a Chinese delegation to Pyongyang last week for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
"Vice Foreign Minister Wu said that at this moment, China is not optimistic about the resumption of the six-party talks or about North Korea's nuclear abandonment (of nuclear weapons)," Aisawa told a news conference in Beijing.
But Aisawa quoted Wu as saying: "North Korea showed some flexibility. (China) is negotiating with the United States to check if it can also show flexibility."
Wu is China's head delegate and chair of the six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
According to Aisawa, Wu also said the North Korean leader did not apologise for carrying out the test as had been indicated in some media reports.
In the trip to Pyongyang, Wu accompanied Chinese envoy Tang Jiaxuan, who on Thursday became the first foreign official to meet the reclusive Kim since North Korea conducted its atomic test on October 9.
China has hosted several rounds of the six-party negotiations on ending the North's nuclear program in return for economic benefits and security guarantees.
The North has boycotted the talks since November. It says it will not return unless Washington ends financial sanctions imposed in September last year on a Macau bank accused of laundering cash for the regime in Pyongyang.