De Trani was in China for discussions with Vice Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhou and China's pointman on North Korea Ning Fukui, attempting to kick-start stalled multinational negotiations.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Beijing was keen for an early resumption of the six-party talks.

"Just because the next round of talks have not taken place (according to schedule) does not mean that China's position has changed," Zhang said.

"We hope to continue the process and settle the issue through dialogue and consultations. Such an approach is in the interest of all parties concerned. We hope all parties can display flexibility and sincerity."

North Korea agreed in 1994 to freeze plutonium production but in 2002 renounced the deal and ejected the International Atomic Energy Agencyafter Washington accused it of trying to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

Since then the United States had been working with China, South Korea, Japan and Russia to negotiate with North Korea through the so-called six party talks to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

However, a June consensus to hold a fourth round of talks by the end of September failed to materialize largely due to the US presidential elections.

De Trani's visit comes after IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei told the New York Times he was certain the nuclear material his agency once monitored in North Korea had been converted into fuel for four to six nuclear bombs.

ElBaradei said his judgment that North Korea had converted its stockpile of spent nuclear fuel into weapons-grade plutonium was not based on new intelligence.

Instead, it was based on the agency's years of accumulated knowledge of North Korea's abilities, and the amount of time that had passed since the regime ejected inspectors and began removing the 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods that inspectors had been monitoring.

"I'm sure they have reprocessed it all. We know they have the fissile material," he said, referring to the rods, which can be reprocessed into weapons-grade plutonium.

Following talks in Beijing, De Trani will visit Seoul and Tokyo to continue Washington's efforts to get North Korea back to the negotiating table.

His trip comes after he held "face-to-face" meetings with North Korean officials in New York last week, US officials said in Washington.

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