But Yang, in comments made before he began private talks with his counterpart Kim Sung-Hwan, did not mention the North's uranium enrichment programme which has sparked international concern.

China will seek an early resumption of the talks "to realise denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and normalisation of relations between related countries", Yang said.

The talks that group the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia have been stalled since December 2008. The North abandoned them in April 2009 and conducted a second nuclear test a month later.

Seoul, Washington and Tokyo say Pyongyang should improve inter-Korean ties before the nuclear dialogue can resume.

Yang said China would work with other countries including South Korea "to pursue peace, stability and development" on the peninsula.

His visit was originally scheduled for last November but was postponed after the North's deadly shelling of a South Korean border island.

China's failure publicly to condemn the North for that attack sparked irritation in Seoul, as did its refusal to identify the North as the culprit in the sinking of a South Korean warship last March.

Minister Kim said some South Koreans "raised concerns about our bilateral relationship" following the two incidents, but that ties had improved.

South Korean officials said earlier they expected the ministers to discuss the North's uranium programme.

The nuclear-armed North last November disclosed an apparently operational uranium enrichment plant to visiting US experts, giving it a potential second way of making atomic bombs.

Pyongyang claims the programme is for peaceful energy development but experts say it could easily be converted to produce weapons-grade uranium.

Japan and South Korea have urged the United Nations Security Council to take up the issue with a view to possible punishment.

China opposes taking the issue to the world body even though President Hu Jintao has expressed concern at reports of the programme.

China has warned its Security Council partners that it intends to block publication of a report on the subject, a diplomat at the United Nations told AFP last week.

The report says the North almost certainly has at least one other undisclosed enrichment-related facility and describes the uranium programme as a serious violation of UN sanctions.

Beijing insists the issue be discussed when six-party talks are revived.

Yang was expected to brief Seoul officials on this week's visit to Pyongyang by China's vice foreign minister Zhang Zhijun. He was also due to meet President Lee Myung-Bak Wednesday.

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