'Positive signs' as nuke talks enter second day

BEIJING, Wednesday (AFP) - A second day of talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes got under way Wednesday with hopes buoyed by "positive" contacts between Pyongyang and Washington.

The main protagonists have adopted a less confrontational tone than in the previous three rounds and have so far met twice this week as pressure mounts for progress to be made in the three-year standoff.

Chief US envoy Christopher Hill told reporters late Tuesday that he had "good discussions" with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan on the first day of the multinational talks that also involve China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

"It was very businesslike. We avoided any rhetoric. It was an effort to get all the issues on the table, to make sure we know what is important to each of us, so it was positive in that sense," he said.

The two sides discussed the US proposal put forward last June that required North Korea to give an up-front pledge to dismantle all its plutonium and uranium weapons programmes before receiving any energy and other assistance.

"We talked about the June proposal, talked about the sequencing of the proposal, the importance they attach to the sequencing where they don't want to have to have obligations ahead of other people's obligations," said Hill.