Bush team makes final bid in N.Korea nuclear talks

U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill arrived in Beijing on Sunday for talks likely to be the Bush administration's last chance to advance a faltering disarmament-for-aid deal with destitute North Korea.

Five regional powers will begin discussions with North Korea from Monday to try to persuade the isolated state to accept a system to verify claims it has made about its nuclear arms programme in exchange for aid and better diplomatic standing.

"I am not very optimistic," South Korean nuclear envoy Kim Sook told South Korean media before heading to Beijing.

Analysts do not expect North Korea to make any serious moves until President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.

They say there will be major progress in Beijing only if Hill offers significant last-minute concessions such as agreeing to flexible verification, allowing secretive Pyongyang to prohibit inspectors from looking into areas of its nuclear programme it wants to keep in the dark.

"The North is expected to focus on getting as much energy and economic aid as possible under the principle of 'action for action'," said Paik Hak-soon, director of the Centre for North Korean studies at the South's Sejong Institute.

Hill told reporters on arriving in Beijing he expected the six-party talks to start on Monday afternoon.

"Obviously we're at a very important phase. We've got a lot to do at this round," he said. "I hope we can get through this and really register some progress."

Conservatives in Washington have criticised Hill for being too flexible with North Korea and not obtaining detailed information about its suspected programme to enrich uranium for weapons or its transfer of technology to countries like Syria.

NUCLEAR SAMPLES

The most recent obstacle has been the North's reluctance to allow international inspectors to take nuclear samples out of the country for testing.

Washington maintains Pyongyang is obliged to allow such tests. U.S. officials say North Korea has produced about 50 kg (110 lb) of plutonium --- enough for six to eight nuclear bombs.

The impoverished state has spent nearly two decades getting U.S. presidents and regional powers to hand over billions of dollars to curtail, but never actually end, its nuclear weapons programme, considered one of Asia's biggest security threats.

Obama has mostly supported President George W. Bush's North Korea diplomacy. The one thing Obama appears willing to consider, and which analysts say North Korean leader Kim Jong-il dearly prizes, is the first direct talks with a U.S. president.

The prickly North has largely cut ties with its former major aid donor South Korea in anger at the tough policies of its conservative president, who took office in February.

In the meantime, it has won concessions in the nuclear talks that benefit its economy.

On Saturday, it said it would ignore Japan at the nuclear talks, further aggravating ties damaged by disputes over the North Korean kidnappings of Japanese nationals decades ago.

"I don't think it's for North Korea to be including or excluding anyone in the six-party talks. I think they need to deal with us all, and so frankly speaking it doesn't really change anything for us," Hill said.

Japan has said it will not join China, Russia, South Korea and the United States in providing aid to North Korea unless the matter of its kidnapped citizens is solved, prompting Pyongyang to say Japan should be removed from the six-country talks.