SEOUL/BEIJING — Russia and China discussed resuming six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program this week, while a South Korean diplomat said five of the participants had agreed on conditions to present to Pyongyang for restarting the negotiations.
Numerous efforts to restart the talks since they were last held over six years ago have failed.
"Both sides exchanged views on the situation on the Korean peninsula and the issue of resuming the six party talks," China's foreign ministry said Tuesday on its website of the talks with Russia, without giving further details.
Relations between North Korea and China, its main ally, have cooled since Kim Jong Un assumed power in Pyongyang and, in 2013, defied UN sanctions to conduct a third nuclear test.
Earlier this month, South Korea's representative to the talks said China and Russia, as well as the United States, Japan, and South Korea, have reached "a certain degree of consensus," on how to restart the process.
"Now is the time for 'exploratory talks,' to deliver the common view of the five parties to North Korea and to check its response," Hwan
