Top nuclear negotiators for China and South Korea conferred Monday on how to carry out U.N. plans to punish North Korea for its nuclear test in May and how to resume stalled talks on the country's nuclear program, an official said. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, meanwhile, called for a get-tough approach on Pyongyang. North Korea quit the six-nation nuclear negotiations in April in anger over a U.N. rebuke of its long-range rocket launch. The communist regime has since further ratcheted up tensions, conducting its second nuclear test and a series of banned missile launches. The North is also suspected in a series of cyber attacks that caused Web outages in the U.S. and the South, The Associated Press reported. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, Beijing's nuclear envoy, has been visiting other participants in the nuclear talks to discuss how to break the deadlock. Wu arrived in Seoul on Sunday on the last leg of his trip that included stops in Russia, the U.S. and Japan. «The important thing is that we, both sides, should exchange opinions in a candid and in-depth manner,» the Chinese official said at the start of talks with Seoul's nuclear envoy, Wi Sung-lac. Wu also met with Seoul's Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-rak, but did not speak to reporters after the meetings. Seoul's Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said the nuclear envoys discussed how to implement a U.N. resolution adopted last month to punish the North for its May 25 nuclear test, and how to reopen talks with Pyongyang. Moon offered no details. They also discussed the possibility of convening talks with Russia, the U.S. and Japan _ but excluding North Korea _ and agreed to continue discussions on the matter, the ministry spokesman said without elaborating.
