Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei told a senior Japanese official on Friday he expects the next round of six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes to take place in January, Kyodo news agency said. Wu spoke at a meeting in Beijing with Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Kyodo quoted a Japanese government source as saying. A fifth round of six-party talks in the Chinese capital broke off early this month with the United States and North Korea still far apart after Pyongyang offered to freeze but not dismantle its nuclear programmes in return for compensation. Washington said that was unacceptable. The countries taking part in the six-party process are the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
