Top nuclear negotiators for China and South Korea conferred Monday on how to carry out U.N. plans to punish North Korea for its nuclear test in May and how to resume stalled talks on the country's nuclear program, an official said.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, meanwhile, called for a get-tough approach on Pyongyang.
North Korea quit the six-nation nuclear negotiations in April in anger over a U.N. rebuke of its long-range rocket launch. The communist regime has since further ratcheted up tensions, conducting its second nuclear test and a series of banned missile launches.
The North is also suspected in a series of cyberattacks that caused Web outages in the U.S. and the South.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, Beijing's nuclear envoy, has been visiting other participants in the nuclear talks to discuss how to break the deadlock. Wu arrived in Seoul on Sunday on the last leg of his trip that included stops in Russia, the U.S. and Japan.
"The important thing is that we, both sides, should exchange opinions in a candid and in-depth manner," the Chinese official said at the start of talks with Seoul's nuclear envoy, Wi Sung-lac.
Wu also met with Seoul's Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-rak, but did not speak to reporters after the meetings.
Seoul's Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said the nuclear envoys discussed how to implement a U.N. resolution adopted last month to punish the North for its May 25 nuclear test, and how to reopen talks with Pyongyang. Moon offered no details.
They also discussed the possibility of convening talks with Russia, the U.S. and Japan _ but excluding North Korea _ and agreed to continue discussions on the matter, the ministry spokesman said without elaborating.
Since North Korea boycotted the talks, South Korea has pushed the idea of a five-nation meeting to discuss ways forward, but China and Russia _ the North's traditional friends _ have reportedly opposed it because such a gathering could be seen as pressuring Pyongyang.
The U.N. Security Council sanctions center on stamping out North Korea's alleged trading of banned arms and weapons-related material. Washington is trying to muster international support for stringent enforcement of the sanctions.
In Sweden, South Korea's conservative, pro-U.S. President Lee Myung-bak called for pressure on Pyongyang.
"The reason we are being tough like this is to get North Korea to give up its nuclear program and come to the negotiating table," Lee told South Korean reporters traveling with him on a trip to Europe, according to Yonhap news agency.
Lee and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt issued a joint statement Monday urging the North to immediately stop acts that threaten peace on the Korean peninsula, Lee's presidential Blue House said in a release.
The two also "concurred that the international community should demonstrate unity and speak with one voice to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea," it said.
Sweden was the last stop on Lee's trip that already took him to Poland and Italy.
Unlike his two liberal predecessors, Lee has taken a hard line on Pyongyang, halting unconditional aid to Seoul's impoverished neighbor. That has angered the North, prompting it to suspend inter-Korean reconciliation talks and key joint projects.
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