BEIJING - ENVOYS to North Korean nuclear talks arrived in Beijing on Sunday despite serious doubts if the latest disarmament meeting would make progress amid Pyongyang's refusal to recognise Japan's participation.

US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill was among those who arrived on Sunday in the Chinese capital for six-nation talks expected to kick off Monday. Earlier in the day there had been doubts the meeting would proceed at all.

Why reopen North Korea nuclear talks now? SEOUL - A NEW round of talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme is expected to begin on Monday in Beijing, aimed at laying the ground rules for verifying claims the communist state made about its atomic ambitions. Below are some questions and answers on what North Korea stands to gain in the talks with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, which come in the closing weeks of US President George W. Bush's final term. ... more

'The six-party talks will open at 3:00 pm (3pm Singapore time) on December 8, before which host China will have bilateral meetings with each of the other parties,' South Korean envoy Kim Sook told reporters.

Earlier, asked about the prospect for progress in the talks, Kim was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying: 'I am not optimistic at all.'

That came after North Korea said on Saturday it would not recognise the participation of Japan in the six-nation forum in protest over Tokyo's refusal to provide promised energy aid.

'We will neither treat Japan as a party to the talks nor deal with it even if it impudently appears in the conference room, lost to shame,' the communist country's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Mr Hill, who confirmed the talks would begin Monday, played down the importance of North Korea's position on Japan.

'I don't think it is important for North Korea to be including or excluding anybody of the six-party talks,' he told reporters on Sunday. 'Frankly speaking, it's definitely not changing anything for us.' Mr Hill has predicted difficult discussions after preparatory meetings with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan in Singapore last week.

After reaching Beijing, Mr Hill went quickly into preliminary meetings with the South Korean and Japanese envoys, South Korean officials told AFP.

A US embassy spokeswoman confirmed Mr Hill met on Sunday some of his counterparts but stressed they would not include the North Koreans.

The latest round of six-party talks is scheduled to discuss ways of verifying North Korea's declaration of its nuclear facilities.

Under a 2007 pact involving the two Koreas, Japan, the United States, Russia and hosts China, Pyongyang agreed to disable facilities at its plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear complex and reveal its atomic activities.

In return, it was to get one million tonnes of fuel oil or energy aid of equivalent value. About half has been delivered.

Japan has withheld its share until North Korea accounts fully for Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang during the Cold War.

The North has admitted it seized Japanese to train its spies and in 2002 let five return. It says the others are dead but Japan believes they are alive.

In October, after reaching an apparent agreement on verification procedures, the US said it would drop North Korea from a terrorism blacklist, and the North reversed plans to restart its plutonium-producing nuclear plants.

However, North Korea, which tested an atomic weapon in October 2006, is now reportedly opposing the idea of atomic samples being taken away by inspectors.

The US State Department in Washington and the US embassy in Beijing have said they had received no official confirmation from Beijing that the talks would go ahead on Monday.

However, members of the South Korean delegation told AFP the talks would definitely be held beginning on Monday afternoon. -- AFP