Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who flew into the Russian capital on Sunday, began consulations with his Russian counterpart Alexander Losyukov, the Interfax news agency reported, citing diplomatic sources.

"So far, Pyongyang says there is no point in carrying on the (negotiating) process and does not want to. We hope this attitude will eventually be reconsidered. Any type of negotiation is better than war," Losyukov told Interfax.

Wang and Losyukov were the senior Chinese and Russian delegates to six-party talks on the issue in Beijing in August.

In a telephone conversation on the eve of Wang's trip, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing agreed six-way talks were an important step toward the peaceful resolution of the issue through dialogue, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said.

China's ambassador to the United Nations said Friday that December could be a good time for a new round of talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons drive.

North Korea had thrown doubt on the likelihood of more talks when earlier this month it rejected Japan's further involvement in the six country negotiations.

The first round of talks in Beijing in August -- involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States -- ended inconclusively.

North Korea expressed no interest in continuing the dialogue without US concessions, which Washington rejected.

In addition to rejecting Japanese involvement this week, North Korea has raised the stakes by claiming it has completed the reprocessing of 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, which would yield enough plutonium for six nuclear weapons, and suggesting it was building new weapons.

The North also claimed it was building two nuclear reactors which were part of a 1994 agreement with the United States. The accord was frozen because of North Korea's renewed efforts to acquire a nuclear arsenal.

Wang is expected to remain in Russia until Tuesday, according to Xinhua.

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