THE United States and North Korea sat down on Wednesday for their highest level meeting in four years at six-country talks on North Korean nuclear disarmament.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi opened the talks, saying they came at a 'critical point' in negotiations to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons and showed all parties had the political will to move forward.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met for the first time with her North Korean counterpart Pak Ui Chun, with both countries setting a tough tone ahead of the informal talks.

The pair were joined by the foreign ministers of Japan, Russia, South Korea and China, which chairs the negotiations. Mr Pak sat between his Chinese and Japanese counterparts, with Rice seated between Russia and China.

Begun in 2003 before lapsing for three years, the six-country disarmament negotiations produced a landmark deal in February 2007 that has led to the disablement of most of North Korea's weapons-grade plutonium plants.

The negotiations hit a deadlock until last month when North Korea finally handed over a partial accounting of its nuclear programmes that must now be completely dismantled and the whole process verified.

US President George W. Bush then began the procedure to remove North Korea from a blacklist of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism as well as ease economic sanctions on North Korea, though most remain in place.

Mr Ri Tong Il, a spokesman for North Korea's delegation at a regional security forum here, said according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency that moves to drop the North from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism were not enough.

'An important thing in the next stage is for the US to lift punitive measures and hostile policies completely and fundamentally', he reportedly said.

In the run-up to the meeting, Dr Rice met separately with her counterparts from China, Russia, South Korea and Japan - at times with chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill at her side.

The meeting with Mr Pak 'will give some indications of the amount of effort the North Koreans have put in to completing this verification protocol', Mr Hill told reporters here late Tuesday.

The four-page US draft protocol - which aims to establish arrangements to verify North Korea's steps toward nuclear disarmament - was submitted to North Korea and the other parties earlier this month in Beijing.

The sides earlier this month agreed in principle to a verification mechanism that would include experts from the six nations visiting facilities, taking soil samples, reviewing documents and interviewing technical personnel.

But the details still have to be worked out and Mr Hill conceded the North Koreans had some objections when they took home the draft protocol to study.

Nonetheless, Mr Hill said the United States hoped the document would be finalised by the week of August 10 so the months-long process of verification could begin.

Dr Rice plays down expectations of meeting

Dr Rice has played down expectations for the meeting, which is taking place on the sidelines of Thursday's 27-nation Asean Regional Forum security talks.

The meeting would not be 'historic, monumental or even consequential', she said, but rather fall into the 'consultation category'.

Meeting Mr Pak would send a 'very strong message' to North Korea to live up to its obligations and complete the verification protocol, she said on her flight from Washington.

Dr Rice also hopes the talks will touch on the third and final phase of disarmament, including the handover of all material and any weaponry. -- AFP