"The secretary-general welcomes the announced resumption on 18 December 2006 of the six-party talks aimed at achieving a non-nuclear Korean peninsula," said Stephane Dujarric in a statement.

"He hopes that the participants in the talks will use this opportunity to make meaningful progress towards implementing their Joint Statement of 19 September 2005," the statement said.

"The United Nations Secretariat will remain steadfast in its support for this multilateral diplomatic approach," it added.