"We hope all parties will display flexibility to solve the verification issue," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters.

His comments came after North Korea said it would start work to resume plutonium reprocessing at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, possibly within a week, after the United States failed to remove it from its terrorism blacklist.

Under a deal reached with China, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan last year, the North agreed to abandon its nuclear programmes in exchange for an array of diplomatic incentives and economic aid.

It handed over a declaration of its nuclear activities in June, after which the United States were due to take it off its terrorism list.

But Washington has said Pyongyang must first agree to procedures for strict verification of its atomic activities before it can be taken it off the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.