Diplomacy stalemate over North Korea's nuclear programme (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) – China does not back efforts by Washington and Seoul to punish North Korea at the United Nations for its uranium enrichment programme and wants six-party talks to deal with the issue, a top South Korean envoy said on Saturday.
International disagreement over how to deal with the North's growing nuclear capability comes just days after inter-Korean talks collapsed, as diplomatic efforts to defuse simmering tensions on the divided peninsula faltered.
The six-party talks, which offer Pyongyang aid and diplomatic recognition in return for disabling its nuclear weapons programme, were last held two years ago. They collapsed when the North quit in protest against U.N. sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests.
The six-way talks started in 2003 and are chaired by China, and also involve the United States, Japan and Russia.
"Both sides were concerned about it (the North's uranium enrichment programme) and will work closely," the South's nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac told Reuters after a two-day visit to Beijing to discuss the issue with his Chinese counterpart.
But Wi said China disagreed that the United Nations should be involved, and said the six-sided forum should deal with it.
The North and its main ally and benefactor China have called for the six-party talks to be restarted, but Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have questioned the North's sincerity about denuclearizing, pointing to its uranium enrichment as proof.
Tensions spiked on the peninsula last year after the sinking of South Korean warship and the North's shelling of a remote South Korean island. The North denies it was responsible for sinking the ship and says it was provoked into shelling the island.
In November, the North raised international security concerns when it revealed big advances in its uranium enrichment programme, giving it a second route to make an atomic bomb along with its plutonium progamme.
The North says the uranium programme is for peaceful energy means, but Washington and Seoul says it contravenes a 2005 agreement and Security Council resolutions, and that Pyongyang should be reprimanded by the United Nations.
Both Beijing and Washington have said that before the six-party nuclear talks can reconvene, the two Koreas, still technically at war after signing only a truce to end the 1950-53 Korean War, must iron out their differences at bilateral talks.
This week, military officers from the two Koreas met for the first time since last November's attack on Yeonpyeong island, but discussions collapsed when they failed to agree on an agenda and rank of participants for a higher-level meeting.
Analysts say the two Koreas will likely return to the negotiating table again, under pressure from Beijing and Washington. However, they say six-party talks are a long way off as both the South and the United States doubt the North's sincerity.
(Writing by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Ron Popeski)
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Two Koreas military talks collapse

The two sides fail to reach an agreement on securing high-level military talksThe talks were the first of its kind since the Yeonpyeong island bombingThe bombing killed four South Koreans last November
Seoul (CNN) -- Talks between North and South Korea collapsed Wednesday after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on securing high-level military discussions during preparatory meetings held in the border area of Panmunjom.
The resumption of talks, the first of its kind since the Yeonpyeong island bombing that killed four South Koreans last November, signaled a change in atmosphere between the two Koreas. It led many to speculate that a consensus on holding higher-level military would be reached.
However, the North Korean delegation walked away from the negotiating table less than five hours after the second round of talks had begun, a move that was called "unilateral" by the South Korean Defense Ministry.
One of the issues that stalled talks was North Korea's demand for a comprehensive agenda from both sides on possible military actions, while the South pushed to limit the talks to the sinking of the Cheonan warship and Yeonpyeong Island attack, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.
The South and North ran into a similar deadlock while discussing the agenda of the high-level talks on the first day Tuesday. Seoul has demanded that North Korea apologizes for its military provocations carried out last year that also include the sinking of a warship that killed 46 sailors in March.
Pyongyang has denied involvement in the case.
South Korea emphasized Tuesday that it wants the agenda of the high-level talks to specify the island bombing and warship attack. The North argued back, saying that restricting the talks to those issues is "the equivalent of refusing to hold higher-level military talks," according to Seoul's Defense Ministry.
The resumption of humanitarian talks may also be in jeopardy because of the collapse in military talks.
Seoul earlier in the day sent a message to the North saying that it agreed in principal to hold humanitarian talks, in response to two requests Pyongyang had made this year, according to the Unification Ministry.
The South said it would be willing to discuss the details of the time and venue of the humanitarian talks after the high-level military talks are over. The Unification Ministry has not yet indicated whether the collapse of the military talks will push back or affect the resumption of the so-called Red Cross talks.
The Red Cross talks are used to facilitate reunions for families separated by the Korean War and for the North to receive humanitarian aid such as rice and fertilizer from Seoul.
CNN's Paula Hancocks and Jiyeon Lee contributed to this report.
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