U.S. and North Korea start talks in Geneva (Reuters)

GENEVA (Reuters) ? U.S. and North Korean negotiators began a two-day meeting in Geneva on Monday, the second such encounter since six-party talks on nuclear disarmament collapsed more than two years ago.

The session, which follows talks in New York in late July, is aimed more at managing tensions on the divided Korean peninsula than resuming stalled regional talks on ending the North's nuclear programs.

"Talks have started. They are in the room and talking," a U.S. official said outside the American diplomatic mission in Geneva where the two sides were meeting in a conference room.

The two delegations, who are staying at the same Geneva lakeside hotel, held a roughly two-hour morning session and were to return after separate lunches at 2:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. EDT).

U.S. officials have described the talks as "exploratory" and aimed at keeping Pyongyang engaged so as to avoid any "miscalculations" by the reclusive nation.

U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth, accompanied by his successor Glyn Davies, and veteran North Korean nuclear negotiator Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan lead the respective delegations.

SLIGHT EASING OF TENSIONS

U.S. officials and analysts were keeping expectations low, despite a slight easing of tensions between American ally South Korea and North Korea and Pyongyang's repeated calls for resuming nuclear talks.

The six-party talks, including North Korea's ally China as well as Russia, Japan and South Korea, fell apart in 2009 when North Korea quit the process after U.N. sanctions were imposed following its second nuclear test.

China wants North Korea to deepen talks with the South and the United States in the hope of restarting nuclear negotiations, the Chinese vice premier told his North Korean counterpart, state media reported on Monday.

The six-party forum offers the North economic aid in return for dismantling its nuclear program which is believed to have yielded enough fissile material to make up to 10 atomic bombs.

Last year, the North unveiled a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon, which opens a second route to make a nuclear bomb along with its plutonium program, and argued it was for peaceful purposes. It says uranium enrichment falls outside the realm of previous six-party negotiations.

A September 2005 agreement reached by all sides does not specifically refer to uranium enrichment, only stating that the North must cease all nuclear activities.

Seoul and Washington insist that Pyongyang must first halt its nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment program, before six-party talks can restart.

South Korea said last week that Pyongyang's defiance over uranium enrichment remains the biggest hurdle.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has stated his readiness to return to the nuclear talks "without any preconditions." He says the North remains committed to fulfilling the September agreement with the aim of denuclearizing the entire peninsula.

Analysts say there is little chance the North will ever give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons, seen as the ultimate bargaining chip and most effective deterrent against attack from the South, and that six-party talks are a long way off.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ruled out troop cuts in Asia as part of U.S. belt-tightening as he arrived in Japan on Monday, flagging concerns about a "reckless" North Korea and Chinese military assertiveness.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111024/wl_nm/us_korea_north_us

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