America's chief representative to the Korean Peninsula nuclear talks arrived in Beijing last night as part of a new attempt to get the discussions moving again.

Christopher hill, a United States assistant secretary of state, said he came to the Chinese capital at the request of US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to continue discussions with Chinese officials.

The six-party talks "need to be prepared very well," and the visit "is a part of the process," Hill said.

Prior to the Beijing trip, Hill predicted that the talks, which involve the US, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korean, South Korea, Japan and Russia, would likely resume next month.

"I think we will try to use the next few weeks to be very busy and maybe begin the talks sometime in early December, probably," Hill said on the sidelines of the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Vietnam.

Foreign affairs experts interpreted Hill's visit as a "substantial indication" that the plans to restart the six-party talks had entered a crucial stage.

"The concerned parties continued to consult on the details of the resumption of the talks, which is a clear sign of more active shuttle diplomacy," said Fu Mengzi, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Contemporary International Relations.

The chinese government said in late October that China, the DPRK and the United States had agreed to return to the talks, designed to create a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

The dprk said a day later that it expected the issue of financial sanctions would be settled within the framework of the six-party talks. Prior to the statement, Pyongyang vowed that as long as it was under US sanctions, it would not return to the discussions.